CLARKSVILLE, Ark. - In their first American Southwest Conference series of 2019, the East Texas Baptist University baseball team came away with a split against the University of the Ozarks. ETBU fell in game one, 8-7, but won game two, 10-4. ETBU is now 5-4 overall and 1-1 in the ASC.
 
Game one was a seven-inning affair that saw ETBU put on a late rally only to fall short 8-7. Landen Barns had three hits and two RBI while Dylan Singletary (RBI) notched two. Blake Corbin (3.0 IP, nine hits, four runs, four strikeouts) started and went three innings but reliever Chad Boudreaux (2.2 IP, two runs, three hits) took the loss.
 
ETBU bounced back to win game two, 10-4, with a ninth-inning surge. Casey Combs had three hits while Barns and Dylan Sumpter (two RBI) put up two hits apiece. Derrick Findley was the winning pitcher going 6.2 innings allowing two runs on six hits with one strikeout.
 
Game 1 - UO 8, ETBU 7 (7 innings)
ETBU was one out away from getting out of the first inning scoreless when the Eagles struck first on an RBI single. The Tigers loaded the bases in the top of the second inning but managed just one run on a sacrifice fly by Zachary McAdams to even the score. The tie wouldn't last as Ozarks picked up a two-run homer in the bottom of the third to lead 3-1.
 
The fourth inning saw both teams combine for eight runs as ETBU answered back with five runs. ETBU took the lead on RBI doubles by Drew Large and Barns, an RBI single by Combs, and a sacrifice fly by Sumpter for a 6-3 lead. But UO would tie up the game at six entering the fifth inning. The Eagles then tallied a run across in each of the next two frames to lead 8-6. ETBU would manage to get one run back in the seventh inning on a Singletary RBI and had the tying run in second in the seventh. Unfortunately, UO struck out the Tigers' last hitter to win the first game of the doubleheader.
 
Game 2 - ETBU 10, UO 4
ETBU snuck a run across in the top of the first as Sumpter went from walking as the leadoff hitter to scoring on a wild pitch. UO would knot the score in the bottom of the second as a potential inning-ending double play failed to beat the runner to first with the bases loaded. But the Tigers would shake off the tie when Mikeska homered in the third and Sumpter drove McAdams on a double in the fourth inning to lead 3-1.
 
The score stayed this way until the bottom of the seventh when the Eagles pushed a run across on a single to trail by one. ETBU would push their lead to 5-2 in the top of the eighth as a McAdams double and a Combs single brought home runs only for UO to answer with another RBI fielder's choice. Up 5-3 in the ninth inning, ETBU would run away with the game as they tallied five runs on RBI singles by Singletary, Large, and Sumpter for a 10-3 lead. A two-out RBI double by UO in the bottom of the ninth was all for naught as ETBU wrapped up the 10-4 victory.
Monday's series finale will have the first pitch thrown at 1:00 PM.