By Bradley Melchor/Sports Editor
After a disappointing 2023 season that saw the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor’s Baseball team miss out on the ASC tournament, the Crusaders have had an extremely successful start to their 2024 campaign. After starting the season with an outstanding 10-0 record and winning their first six series against the likes of Austin College, Concordia, Howard Payne, Schreiner, and McMurry University, the Crusaders were recognized in the D3Baseball.com Top 25 Poll for the first time since 2009, being ranked as the No.20 team in the country.
The Crusaders would suffer their first series loss of the season when they matched up against conference leaders and fellow nationally ranked No.5 ETBU, as the Cru would drop the first game by a score of 0-5 before splitting the double header the following day. The Crusaders seemingly fell into a rut following this loss, dropping their next series to LeTourneau University and their singular match against Southwestern University. However, their three losses came by a combined margin of only four runs.
In their most recent series against arch-rivals Hardin-Simmons, the Cru resumed their winning ways as they picked up a 2-1 series victory over the Cowboys. The series was a much needed breath of fresh air for the Cru, as they picked up a marquee 13-0 win last Friday before splitting the double header on Saturday and taking the series.
“This weekend answered a lot of questions for us,” said Head Coach Stawksi after the games on Saturday. “We found out who we really are again, we found our identity, but we also saw some gaps that we need to fill in, but now we know what we need to work on.”
The Cru currently boast an overall record of 19-10 and sit in third place of the American Southwest Conference with a conference record of 11-7 with three series left to go until the ASC Tournament begins. The Cru also boast one of the best offenses in the conference, with a team batting average of .327 and 212 total runs scored. This impressive offense has been led by a three-headed monster composed of senior outfielder Kaden deBerardinis, senior infielder Rhett Grosz, and junior infielder Carson Hagan, all of whom have played and started every game this season for the Cru. Grosz leads the team with a staggering 38 runs batted in, with Hagan and deBerardinis combining to add another 44 RBIs. Grosz and deBerardinis both boast an OPS above 1.000, with Hagan raking in an OPS of.982 while maintaining a batting average of .369.
The Crusaders will look to continue building their momentum as they travel to Dallas to take on the second place UTD Comets, with the first game being played on Friday, April 12 at 2 p.m and the doubleheader on Saturday starting at noon.
