Baseball | 2/13/2009 11:17:54 PM

ABILENE, Texas - Methodist took the early lead and came from behind to lead going into the ninth but Mary Hardin-Baylor tied the game and it took 13 innings before the Crusaders won 8-7.

Senior Dustin Proctor put the Monarchs (0-2) on the board in the bottom of the second inning after hitting a double and stealing third.  Junior Brian Halpin's grounder allowed Proctor to score.  Mary Hardin-Baylor (3-3) tied the game on an unearned run in the third, but Methodist senior Michael Twichell reached on an error in the fourth and scored to regain the lead.

The Crusaders added two runs to lead 3-2, but Methodist sophomore Tripp Lancaster and freshman Shawn Lovette scored in the sixth inning.  The Monarchs had three errors in the seventh for Mary Hardin-Baylor to regain the lead once again.  Methodist added an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh but trailed 6-5 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning.  Lancaster led off with a double and moved to third on Twichell's sacrifice bunt.  Lancaster scored on an error to tie the game and the Monarchs took the lead on a single from senior Brad Davis to score Lovette.

Mary Hardin-Baylor tied the game at seven on two hits in the top of the ninth and Methodist came up empty in the bottom of the inning to send the game to extra innings.  The Crusaders left two runners on in each of the 11th and 12th innings before scoring the go-ahead run in the 13th inning on an unearned run.

The Monarchs used four different pitchers in the loss with freshman Ryan Fasano going six innings in his first collegiate start.

Lancaster led the Monarchs at the plate batting 3-for-6 while Davis, Halpin, and junior Brian Goodwin each had an RBI.

The Monarchs will play the University of Texas at Dallas Saturday at 2:15 pm CST before facing Whittier College at 5:30 pm CST in their final two games of the Coast to Coast Classic.

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