Baseball Drops Two to St. Thomas

HOUSTON, Texas - The University of Dallas baseball team lost both games of their conference doubleheader against the University of St. Thomas on Friday.  They fall to 14-18 overall on the year and 5-9 in conference play.

GAME 1 - Dallas 4, St. Thomas 8

WP: Connor Bartlett (1-0)

LP: Graeme Williams (1-4)

Both starting pitchers got off to a solid start in game one, with the game scoreless and the two offenses combining for two hits in the first three innings.  The Crusaders struck first, taking a narrow 1-0 lead on a sac fly by Caleb Hohman in the fourth, but the Celts replied with two runs in the fifth.

Dallas showed patience at the plate to start the sixth, drawing two walks to lead off the inning.  Brett Castillo loaded the bases with a single, then Tyler Darnell came home on a passed ball to tie the game.  A sac fly and an error brought home two more runs to make it a 4-2 game for Dallas.

The Crusaders nearly got through to the eighth with their lead intact, but the wheels came off in the final third of the inning.  An error, a wild pitch, and a walk put runners on first and third, then back-to-back base hits brought home three runs to snatch the lead away for the last time as St. Thomas went up 5-4.

In painfully similar fashion, the Crusaders were one out from going through to the ninth chasing just one run, but a two-out bases loaded double cleared the bases and put Dallas down by four runs going into the top of the ninth.  They had no reply, as the Celts saw out the win.

GAME 2, Dallas 3, St. Thomas 13 (8 Innings)

WP: Landon Murray (4-4)

LP: Dominic Gill (4-5)

St. Thomas played some small ball to scrape across the first run of the game in the bottom of the first, but they immediately coughed up the lead with a disastrous second inning, giving up three runs on three errors.  David Saldana did the work where it was needed, hitting a two-RBI double down the left field line to put the Crusaders on top 3-1.

The Celts pulled one back in the bottom of the second to make it 3-2, then jumped out to a 5-3 lead with three runs in the fifth.  From there, it was all St. Thomas, as they went on to add a run in the sixth, pile on five runs in the seventh, then walk the game off with two runs in the eighth, ending the game via mercy as the Crusaders were held scoreless for six innings.

The series will conclude with a single tomorrow.  First pitch is still to be determined with impending weather in Houston.