MARSHALL, Texas – Four runs in the fifth inning proved to be the big difference for the East Texas Baptist University baseball team as they came away with a game one American Southwest Conference 7-2 victory over Belhaven University. ETBU improve to 14-8 overall and 5-5 in the conference and now has a two-game winning streak.

ETBU was led Tyler Bates, who had two hits in three at bats. Conner Combs (two hits), Dynas Doud, Kam Sumrall, Josh Warbington, and Brice Winter would each have a RBI in the game. On the mound, Ernest Perez got the win and improved to 7-1 by going 6.1 innings allowing two runs on seven hits while walking four and striking out two. Chad Boudreaux came in relief and finished the game by allowing no hits and struck out one.

After a scoreless first inning, ETBU took the lead in the second inning on an RBI double by Combs to score Sumrall. Perez would face trouble in the third before getting out of the jam with a double play ball. In the bottom half of the frame, Doud delivered a bases-loaded single that scored a run and gave ETBU a 2-0 lead. One inning later, Warbington delivered a double to score Combs and ETBU had a 3-0 advantage.

Belhaven scored two runs to cut the lead to 3-2. But then, ETBU had their four run fifth inning. When Zach Compton struck out, he advanced to first on the wild pitch while Bates came into score. Sumrall then drilled a double to left and Compton scored. Then Warbington struck out and reached on an error by the catcher, which allowed Sumrall to score from second. Winter then singled to center and Warbington scored to make it 7-2 ETBU.

Belhaven had a few opportunities to score in the later innings. With two runners in scoring position and one out, Jaxon Rader made a double play by catching a fly ball and throwing out the runner at the plate to end the inning. Boudreaux would have no trouble with the rest of the Blazer hitters as he slammed the door shut giving ETBU the win.

ETBU plays a double header tomorrow with a seven inning game starting at 1pm. The second game will follow at 3:30 pm.