MARSHALL, Texas – Continuing to travel with another weekend road trip, the East Texas Baptist University baseball will look to bounce back this weekend in Abilene, Texas, against McMurry University. This is a non-conference three-game series as ETBU enters at 5-5 on the year
Before starting conference play, ETBU had a thrilling walkoff 8-7 victory over Millsaps College on Tuesday night. Dylan Sumpter led the Tigers' offense with three hits and two runs batted in while Brady Faulkner (two hits) and Seth Mikeska (HR) also drove in runs. Florence earned the win in relief with 0.1 inning allowing one hit.
Against UO, ETBU split their doubleheader on Sunday, losing game one 8-7 in seven innings while winning 10-4 in game two. Barns was effective in the doubleheader collecting five hits and four RBI between the games while starting pitcher Derrick Findley won his game two start with 6.2 innings allowing two runs on six hits with one strikeout. But ETBU's chances of a series victory were denied the next day when the Eagles put together a 13-3 victory.
Seth Mikeska leads the team with a .429 batting average and four homers while he, Barns (.405 BA, five RBI) and Casey Combs (10 RBI, .417 BA) have 15 hits between them. Findley and reliever Call Florence have won two games each while John Marrs has the strikeout lead with 12 and Adrian Stover remains the only pitcher with a 0.00 ERA.
Even with the season still young, ETBU's camaraderie has been kept tight with a team full of young guys and returning veterans as head coach Jared Hood explains. "It's been good," said Coach Hood. "We've been fortunate with some good leadership from those older guys. But with that, you also need young guys that are like sponges. They're accepting of leadership. With us, we got a really talented group mixed in with some key veterans. There's a lot of learning and a lot of exchanging of information. Bottom line is that you have to teach young kids to compete at the college level."
For the time being, ETBU will set their sights on the War Hawks of McM. This will be the second straight season ETBU heads to Abilene after last season's series win taking the first two games before dropping the third. This will be a series of two 5-5 teams as the War Hawks are entering this weekend following a series loss to Southwestern University. Leading McM is Sam Hillyer with a .375 batting average while Mike Gonzales has a team-leading 13 hits and eight RBI. On the mound, J.T Barnes won all three of his starts while posting a 1.00 ERA allowing three runs on 16 hits and striking out 12 batters.
The series starts on Friday at 3:00 PM/5:00 p.m. while Saturday will be at 1:00 PM.
