MARSHALL, Texas – Runs came early and often for the East Texas Baptist University baseball team as they cruised to a 13-2 win over the University of the Ozarks on Friday night. ETBU had 16 hits as a team and drove in 11 runs batted in in the victory over the Eagles.

Ozarks (9-14) scored the first run of the game on an RBI double from Bryce Elder, giving the Eagles a 1-0 lead. ETBU (16-10) answered with eight runs over the next three innings to grab control of the lead. Josh Warbington singled home Zach Gartner, followed by an RBI single from Dylan Sumpter. Landen Barns recorded his fourth homerun of the season, a three run shot to give ETBU a 5-1 lead after two innings. Gartner scored on a wild pitch in the third inning, then Casey Combs brought home Kam Sumrall on a sacrifice fly.

Ozarks would tally their final run on an RBI hit by pitch from Elder. Gartner singled home Conner Combs to extend the lead to 8-2. Gartner tripled home Conner Combs, and then Warbington had an RBI groundout to give ETBU a 10-2 lead after six innings. Sumpter and Mason Aldredge used back-to-back doubles to push the ETBU lead to 12-2 in the seventh inning. Brooks Lloyd capped off the scoring for the game as he had an RBI groundout to score Gartner.

Gartner finished the game with five hits and four runs scored to pace the ETBU offense. Sumpter had three hits, and Conner Combs had two hits to follow suit. Barns drove in three runs, Gartner drove in two runs, and Warbington also drove in two runs. 10 different Tigers reached base tonight, with nine different players recording a hit.

Zach Pollard picked up his third win of the season, improving his record to 3-1 overall this season. Pollard pitched 6.0 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits and struck out eight batters. Blake Corbin pitched the final 3.0 innings, allowing no runs on three hits.

Ozarks was led offensively by Alex Smith and Patrick Clifford with two hits each. Elder led the Eagles with two RBI. Gyeongju Kim was given the loss after pitching 4.0 innings and allowing eight runs (seven earned) on nine hits.

ETBU and Ozarks will conclude their series tomorrow with a double header beginning at 1:00 p.m.