AUSTIN, Texas – St. Edward's baseball split its doubleheader with the UT-Tyler Patriots to take a 2-1 series lead going into Sunday's series finale. 

Game 1: UT-Tyler 6, St. Edward's 5

St. Edward's hit two home runs in a four-run third inning, but UT-Tyler countered with a metronome offense in the third through fifth innings to win 6-5 in the first game of the doubleheader. 

Texas-Tyler struck first in the top of the third inning with the first of three consecutive two-run innings. St. Edward's starting pitcher JACK GRANACK walked Tres Thomas to start the inning. The Patriots showed bunt to open their next two at-bats, bringing the Hilltopper defense in, then shifted to swinging away for back-to-back singles through the infield to load the bases, scoring on Carson Cox's RBI single through the left side. 

After a sacrifice bunt by Tommy van de Sanden, Jordan Gochenour lifted the ball into deep left field to score Edward Ortiz on the sacrifice fly for the 2-0 lead. 

St. Edward's responded in the bottom of the inning with a pair of two-run home runs with two outs from Leonard Little, who drove the ball opposite field to the right, and LUKE JOHNSON, who pulled it to deep left for the 4-2 lead. 

Ethan Bedgood hit a leadoff homer for the Patriots in the fourth, and Texas-Tyler tied the game later in the inning with a sacrifice fly from Cox to left field. 

CONNOR COX delivered an RBI double to left field in the bottom of the inning, scoring TREVOR SEBEK, who reached on a single up the middle, to retake the lead for St. Edward's. 

Gochenour hit a leadoff double down the left-field line in the fifth, Adam Ochoa drew a walk, and after Lane Hutchinson flied out to center, Bedgood put UT-Tyler up for good with an RBI single through the left side. Then, Adam Minjares added an insurance run with an RBI double. 

St. Edward's left a runner stranded in the fifth and sixth innings, then UT-Tyler turned to closer Garrett Arredondo in the seventh for a three-up, three-down save. 

Game 2: St. Edward's 10, UT-Tyler 2

Starter LUKE SHORT put together another MasterClass in pitching, throwing another complete-game victory with 12 strikeouts in seven innings of work, and the third and fourth spots in the lineup were perfect at the plate to lead St. Edward's to a 10-2 win. 

St. Edward's loaded the bases with one out on back-to-back singles from Cox and LANCE LITTLE and Patriots' starting pitcher Hayden Collins hitting CULLEN AINSWORTH. After LUKE JOHNSON went down swinging, JOSH GRAHAM hit a two-RBI single through the right side, and MATTHEW GILES followed with an RBI single to right field for the 3-0 lead. 

St. Edward's added five more runs in the second, loading the bases to start the inning on an error, walk, and hit by pitch. Then, Little drove the ball to deep right field, missing a grand slam by a 3-5 feet and settling for the sacrifice fly to score WESTON SYMES. 

Ainsworth kept the pressure on with a two-RBI double down the left-field line. Johnson followed with an RBI single to left field, Graham put runners on the corners with another single to right, and Giles walked with Johnson scoring on a wild pitch before UT-Tyler replaced Collins with Nathan Holmes to get out of the inning. 

The Hilltoppers opened the bottom of the third with three consecutive singles from Cox, Little, and Ainsworth, with the latter scoring Cox. Then, after Johnson walked to load the bases and Graham flied out to right field, Giles hit sacrifice fly to center field to score Little. 

That was more than enough runs for Short, who retired six of the first seven hitters he faced. Texas-Tyler scored a run in the third with three consecutive singles before Short struck out Gochenour and got a fly out from Ochoa to end the inning. After Short struck out two of the four hitters he faced in the fourth, he surrendered a leadoff home run to Nathan Carriere and an error to Cox before striking out the side. Short struck out two more in the sixth, and another in the seventh. 

It was the third time Short has thrown 12 strikeouts in seven appearances this season, after entering the season leading the Lone Star Conference in strikeouts with 51, which was good for fourth in the nation. 

Little and Ainsworth each hit 2-for-2 from the plate with Little scoring twice and driving in a run, and Ainsworth driving in three RBI and scoring twice. Cox hit 2-for-3 with three runs scored, Graham hit 2-for-4 with two RBI, and Giles was 2-for-2 with three RBI. Johnson had a hit with an RBI and run scored.