ABILENE, Texas – Chris Baker's bases-loaded double in the bottom of the seventh inning of game two gave the McMurry University baseball team a split of its doubleheader versus East Texas Baptist University. The War Hawks (9-22, 4-14 ASC) lost game one, 6-5 in nine innings, before bouncing back to defeat the Tigers (18-15, 9-9 ASC) in the nightcap, 11-10.
 
In the first game, McM was unable to mount any offensive threat in the early going of the scheduled seven-inning contest. Through the first six innings, the War Hawks managed to put just two runners in scoring position. Meanwhile, ETBU would build a 5-0 lead with two runs in the third, as well as single runs in the fourth fifth and seventh innings.
 
With its back against the wall, McMurry managed to knot the game with a five-run burst in their half of the seventh. Tyler Jenkins led off with a single to right and then, with one away, came home on a double off the bat of Mike Gonzalez.
 
Pinch-hitter Blaine McRay and shortstop Noah Clarkson drew back-to-back walks to load the bases for Matthew Chalk.  Chalk – who went 2-for-3 in the game – crushed a grand slam home run to cap the big inning and sent the contest to extra frames.
 
Neither team scored in the eighth. In the ninth, the Tigers' Zach Gartner belted a two-out, solo homer off Jenkins for the final, 6-5, score.
 
In the second game, ETBU chased two McM hurlers in less than two innings. But in the second, Jack Poe (2-5) would enter the game and restore order. Poe scattered four hits, was charged with two unearned runs and struck out two.
 
Poe's efforts came in handy, after McM found itself down 6-0 after just on-half inning and 8-3 through two innings.  The War Hawks got their first runs of the game thanks to a three-run homer to centerfield from Baker.
 
McM climbed closer in the fifth when Chalk also slugged a three-run home run. In the sixth, Gonzales laced a one-out doubles and came home on Jordan Speck's RBI single, 8-7.  But a couple of McM miscues in the top of the seventh left the team once again staring at a big deficit, 10-7.
 
But McMurry would salvage the split with another late inning rally.
 
Clarkson reached on a bad-hop single to third and took second on Payton Stokes' single up the middle. Back-to back errors at shortstop allowed Clarkson and Stokes to score, with runners at second and third. After Speck struck out, Jenkins was intentionally walked to load the bases and set up a force play, with Baker due up.
 
Baker, the McM senior catcher, cracked a high-hopper over third base and into left field. That allowed Kyle Keever and Gonzales to cross the plate with the tying and winning runs, respectively, as Baker was mobbed by his teammates after the improbable 11-10 comeback win.
 
Baker finished the game 3-for-5 with five RBI. Chalk was 2-for-4 with a run and three runs batted in, as the only other War Hawk with multiple hits.
 
In the twinbill, Chalk was a combined 4-for-7. He scored twice and drove in seven runs.