SEGUIN, Texas – McMurry University baseball made a valiant run in game two of its non-conference doubleheader at Texas Lutheran University, only to come up short, 17-9. The War Hawks (3-9) lost the first game of the twinbill, 6-1, to the Bulldogs (12-3).
 
In that second contest, McMurry found itself in a deep hole early, trailing 11-0 after just three innings. The War Hawks finally got on the board in the fourth after Mike Gonzales led off with a double to right-center field and came home on an RBI single from Matthew Chalk.
 
But it was the fifth and sixth frames that put the wind back into McMurry's sails.  With those at-bats, McM plated five runs, highlighted by an RBI double from Nick Hamel and a two-run double from senior shortstop Noah Clarkson.
 
TLU got one back in its half of the sixth, only to have the War Hawks tally three times in the sixth. With one out, Payton Stokes drew a walk, before Hamel struck out swinging for the second out. Designated hit Blaine McRay followed with a double to right-center that allowed Stokes to score. Chris Baker laced a single to center, sending McRay home.  After a Noah Clarkson walk and a Bulldogs' pitching change, Kyle Keever slapped a single to center that sent Baker to the plate, making it 12-9 when the dust had settled.
 
But that's where the War Hawks' comeback bid ended. TLU responded with four in the bottom of the seventh and one in the eighth for the 17-9 final.
 
Chalk finished the game by going 3-for-5 and the RBI.  Gonzales and McRay each went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. McRay also had a pair of RBI.  Clarkson was 2-for-3 with a run scored and two runs batted in.
 
Stephen Norrell (0-1) – the first of six McM pitchers – took the loss. Norrell went 2.1 innings and was charged with seven earned runs and six of the Bulldogs' 18 hits in the game.
 
In the seven-inning first game, TLU rang up five runs in its first two at-bats and added a single run in the fourth inning.  McMurry scored its lone run in the top of the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Chalk that scored Clarkson.
 
McM was out-hit in the opener, by a seven-to-five margin.
 
Senior Ben Russell went the distance for McMurry, absorbing the loss to even his personal record at 1-1 for the year.  He struck out two and walked two.
 
Keever had the only multi-hit game for the War Hawks, going 2-for-3 at the plate.  Gonzales and Clarkson each doubled.