MARSHALL, Texas – Following their dominant sweep of Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas, the East Texas Baptist University baseball team sets their sights on the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders at home in Marshall this weekend. Due to Easter weekend, the games will be played on Thursday and Friday.
 
In their previous series, the Tigers used a bashing offense to outscore the Lobos 36-19 in the sweep. It started with the 11-7 comeback win in game one, which was led by four RBI on three hits from Landen Barns while Chad Boudreaux received the win in relief with two scoreless innings. In game two, the first two hitters of Dylan Sumpter and Casey Combs combined for six hits and two RBI in the 7-4 win. By game three, ETBU swept SRSU 18-8 as Barns and Zachary McAdams had five RBI on two hits.
 
Sitting 24-10 overall, ETBU is currently second in the American Southwest Conference at 13-5. They trail Howard Payne University (21-12, 14-4) by one game for the top seed while Louisiana College (25-8, 12-6) is outside the top 2 ½ games. Barns leads ETBU in batting average (.416) and RBI (37) while he and Zach Gartner (.397 BA) share the hits lead with 52 each. Combs (12 homers) and Seth Mikeska (11 homers) are the only two Tigers with double-digit homers on a team that leads the nation with 45 on the season. Meanwhile, Alek Arellano has a team-low 2.00 ERA to go with four wins. Alan Underwood has shot up in the strikeout lead with 26 while Derrick Findley still has six wins to lead the team.
 
Now the attention shifts to UMHB, who after a Tuesday loss to Trinity University are 9-21 overall and 4-9 in the conference. Landon Dieterich leads with a .313 batting average, 24 RBI, and 35 hits while Malek Brolin has four homers. On the mound, Alex Klepac has a 2.70 ERA while Aaron Edelmon, Andrew Hutchings, and Cameron Whitman have two wins apiece.
 
This week will also have Senior Day as eight players will be honored for their careers at ETBU. This year's senior class includes Barns, Boudreaux, Combs, Call Florence, Gartner, Tyler Johnson, Mikeska, and Sumpter. Head coach Jared Hood expressed his pleasure with the senior class and what they've been able to accomplish at ETBU over the past few seasons. "Depending on what happens these last couple of weeks, they've got a chance to make the conference tournament all four years," said Coach Hood. "That's pretty special for those guys. But it's by no accident because they're good players. They've done tremendously well since they've been here. When their career's done here at ETBU, those guys will go down as some of the most successful players in program history as far as winning ballgames. For them to have that and carry on, I'm ecstatic for them."
 
Thursday night will start at 7:00 PM while Friday will have a doubleheader beginning at 1:00 PM. The senior day ceremonies will start after the end of game three of the series.