Sports Highlights

With the shortened COVID-19 season, ETBU Baseball completed only 17 games. One of their victories came over 2019 American Southwest Conference champion Concordia University, 1-0. Blake Corbin earned the victory as he struck out a career-high 13 batters and allowed only three hits. Ford Spigener had the lone run in the game with a home run to left field. Corbin went on to win the American Southwest Conference Pitcher of the Week award for his performance against Concordia. Academically, ETBU placed 22 players on the ASC All-Academic team, which led the Conference.

Earning the #1 spot in the nation just before COVID-19 struck, the Tiger Women's Softball Team finished their season at 15-0. ETBU won six American Southwest Conference games and also went undefeated in the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Arizona. Overall, the Tiger Women were 7-0 against the top teams in the nation. During this time, ETBU produced six ASC Player of the Week awards in Beatriz Lara (three times), Preslye Cox, Corley Carpenter, and Daniella Solis. Solis was also the NFCA National Hitter of the Week after the series against Howard Payne University, where she batted .600 and tied a conference record, hitting three home runs in one game. Lara was voted to the CoSIDA Academic AllDistrict team with 11 student-athletes making the ASC All-Academic team.

ETBU Men’s Basketball finished the 2019-2020 season with a 21-7 record and played for the American Southwest Conference Tournament championship for the second time in three seasons. After starting the season 1-1 in Memphis, Tennessee, the Tigers won 14 of their next 15 games moving to 15-2. This included seven wins against non-conference teams and an 83-74 home win against the University of Texas-Dallas, while stealing two close road games against Louisiana College (84-81) and Belhaven University (83-81). Six players earned ASC honors as Robby Dooley was named All-ASC East First Team and Christopher Haynes was named to the All-ASC East Second Team. Landin Brown, Jordan Gray, and Nathan Fontenot were named All-ASC East Honorable Mention, while Jayden Williams was on the ASC All-Freshman team. Eight Tiger players were named to the ASC All-Academic team, which led the ASC. After the season, Brandon Curran stepped down as head coach to enter full-time ministry and Bossier Parish Community College Head Coach Chris Lovell was hired to take over the team after a successful three years at the junior college level.

The ETBU Women’s Basketball program earned their third straight 20-win season finishing 20-7 and reaching the American Southwest Conference Tournament semi-final round. The Lady Tigers put together a 10-game winning streak in the month of January, including a 58-54 victory over #25 ranked University of Texas Dallas. Six players earned All-ASC awards led by Kim Childress and Kendrick Clark, who were both named All-ASC East Division First Team. Amanda Wilson (ASC East Second), Taylor Singleton (ASC East Second), Mallory Stephens (ASC East Honorable Mention), and Mollie Daniel (ASC All-Freshman Team) rounded out ETBU’s Conference award recipients. Ten student-athletes made the ASC All-Academic team which was second most in the ASC.

After a promising start to their season in the fall, the ETBU Men’s Golf team would only have one tournament during the Spring 2020 semester. Tigers finished in fourth place at the Pinecrest Intercollegiate hosted by LeTourneau University. Providing two teams for the tournament, ETBU’s first team finished in fourth place with 918 (312-208-298) strokes over three days, while the second ETBU team took seventh with 952 strokes (326-315-311). Hank Crain would lead ETBU with a 226 (76-7971) tying for 11th place and Riley Griffin led the second team and finished in 13th with a 227. ETBU Golf led the ASC with six student-athletes on the ASC All-Academic team.

The ETBU Women’s Golf program made history as they won their first program tournament in their second year. At the Pinecrest Intercollegiate, hosted by LeTourneau University, the Lady Tigers combined for a first place total of 654 (328-326) and were 99 strokes better than second place LETU. ETBU would have the top four finishers in medalist Makenzie Pinkston with 162 strokes (81-81) while Emily Watson (86-77=163) and Elizabeth Hardy (80-83=163) would tie for second. Cali Brockway came in fourth place with a 166 (81-85). The following week, ETBU traveled to Kerrville where they competed in the Schreiner Spring Shootout where they finished in fourth place out of 10 teams with a 681 (346335). Emily Watson tied for second, shooting a 159 (80-79). Pinkston was named the ASC Golfer of the Week for her play at the Pinecrest Intercollegiate. The ETBU Women also had four student-athletes named ASC All-Academic.

The East Texas Baptist University Softball Team finished the shortened Spring 2020 season as the number one team in NCAA Division III in a vote by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association. It is the first time that ETBU Softball has finished as the top nationally ranked team since 2010 when they won the University national championship title.

ETBU finished with 200 points, claiming the top spot by eight points over Texas Lutheran University.

Tiger Softball finished the season at 15-0. In 2019, ETBU went 20-0 to start the season. Winning six ASC games sweeping Howard Payne University (12-0, 15-5, 1-0) and Sul Ross State University (6-0, 8-0, 7-4) in 2020, ETBU was also the only undefeated team in the conference.

“We are obviously extremely sad that this special season has come to such an abrupt end,” Tigers head coach Janae Shirley said. “This was a special group and we were really looking forward to seeing the great things they were going to accomplish. However, God had a different plan and we know that His light will shine through this situation. This team is filled with not only amazing players but amazing people. The growth and leadership that our staff saw from them over these past few months has been amazing.”

ETBU started the year with a five-inning win over Centenary College. Against teams outside the ASC and Texas, ETBU went 7-0 with wins over Pacific University, 9-8, in nine innings, and then went 5-0 in Arizona. At the NFCA Leadoff Classic ETBU had wins over No. 13 DePauw University (6-1), No. 20 St. John Fisher College (1-0), No. 25 Emory University (8-5), and Piedmont College (8-5). ETBU then defeated Baldwin Wallace (7-1) in their last game of the year after the Classic.

Six of ETBU’s wins were by shutouts while two wins came on walk-off hits. One win came against Pacific where ETBU overcame a 6-2 deficit for a 9-8 victory. India Holland tied the game in the seventh inning with a base hit. Then, in the ninth inning, ETBU scored three runs including a walk-off single by Mariah Delgado for the win.

Some of the thrilling moments from the season included a week where Daniella Solis batted .600 (six-for-10) with seven RBI, two doubles, and three homers against Howard Payne University. In game two of that series, Solis tied the ASC record with three home runs in the game joining six other players on the list. This performance would garner Solis both the ASC and NFCA National Hitter of the Week award.

The NFCA Leadoff Classic was another memorable performance as Corley Carpenter batted .500 with six hits, four RBI, a double, and a home run. Against Saint John Fisher College, Carpenter picked up a season high three hits, including a walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Carpenter got two more hits against Emory University and achieved her first career solo home run in the seventh inning against PC. She was also the recipient of the ASC East Division Hitter of the Week honors.

Three other Tigers earned ASC weekly awards. Beatriz Lara finished with three Pitcher of the Week awards (2/11/20, 2/25/20, 3/16/20). Preslye Cox earned her first career Pitcher of the Week award (3/2/20) after getting two wins pitching 11.0 innings and posting a 0.64 ERA with seven strikeouts. Kaitlin Hunter would be ETBU’s first Hitter of the Week recipient for the season (2/11/20) going three-for-three with two RBI.

This season would see Solis lead ETBU’s offense with 23 hits, eight doubles, 20 RBI, and six home runs. ETBU would be led in the circle by Lara, who finished with nine wins, including a 1.89 ERA and 66 strikeouts. Cox would grab five wins and post a 1.75 ERA and 26 strikeouts.

Spring 2020 marked Tiger Softball's first ever undefeated season, while shortened due to COVID-19, ETBU claimed the top national ranking for NCAA Division III.

The ETBU Men’s Tennis team won three matches in Spring 2020 before their season ended. They recorded a close victory, 5-4, over McMurry University and produced 9-0 wins over Texas Lutheran and Howard Payne University. Andrew Deutsch and Dalton Barron also received ASC East Player of the Week honors. Five Tiger players were also named to the ASC All-Academic team.

The ETBU Women’s Tennis team finished 5-3 on the shortened season, which started with a 7-2 win over the University of St. Thomas (TX). They won four of their next five matches against Texas Lutheran (7-2), University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (8-1), Howard Payne University (8-1), and Schreiner University (5-4). Three players earned ASC East Player of the Week awards. Elisa Kendall won twice, while freshman Kelsey Roberts and Kylee Mixon received their first weekly awards in college. Kendall was ETBU’s recipient of the ASC Medal of Honor award and was voted by her ASC peers as the Women’s Tennis Distinguished Scholar-Athlete award winner. The ITA also voted her the NCAA Division III West Region ‘Most Improved Senior.’ Three Lady Tiger student-athletes were named to the ASC AllAcademic team.

Tiger Men’s Track and Field competed in just two meets, but still made program history. They won the program’s first meet at the Graham Knowles Invitational on February 28. They took the team championship with 144 points behind four first place finishes in Mack Broussard (3,000 meters), Jalen Blanton (high jump) and Kenneth Cavit (shot put, discus). ETBU’s second event of the season occurred at the Mississippi College Invitational. The highlight was a firstplace finish by the 4x100 meter relay team of Reed McDonald, Shayne Porche, TraMikal Davis, and Detaveon Lewis in 42.20 seconds. Broussard took third in the 5,000 meter run, while Ivan Lockhart and Kenneth Cavit had top five finishes in the high jump and shot put respectively. Six ETBU Tiger student-athletes were on the ASC All-Academic team, which was second in the ASC.

Competing in just two meets, the ETBU Women’s Track and Field Team made large strides for their program. They finished sixth in their opening meet at LeTourneau University, where Gracie Almond finished first in the high jump. Other top finishes included Hope Shipp placing second in the javelin, Tia Steen-Baker finishing fourth in the 100-meter dash, and Randa Slone finishing fourth in the 200-meter dash. At the Mississippi College Invitational, Grace Stephens recorded a time of 16.5 seconds in the 100 meter hurdles for fifth place. She then placed third in the 400 meter hurdles at 1:06.70, which earned her the ASC Track Athlete of the Week honor. With that time, Stephens was ranked fourth nationally in NCAA Division III. Hope Shipp and Kylie Embry each placed in the top five in the javelin, with second and fifth place finishes. Five ETBU student-athletes earned ASC All-Academic team honors, which was second in the ASC.

The Tiger Hockey team made history this year as they won the TCHC North Division regular season championship with sweeps over both the University of North Texas and the University of Texas El-Paso. They were the top seed in the TCHC post season and were selected for the first time to play in the ACHA Division II West Regional Tournament, finishing the season with a 24-5-1 record. At the ACHA Regional Tournament in Boise, Idaho, ETBU opened up with a 5-4 overtime win against California State UniversityNorthridge before falling, 6-1, to Metropolitan State University-Denver. Several Tiger players earned honors for the season. In the TCHC, Skyler Spiller, Riley Knott, and Tyler Fitzgerald were all First Team selections, while Ryan Gruszka and Davis VanGemerden received Second Team honors. Head coach Alain Savage was named the 2020 TCHC Coach of the Year. Knott and VanGemerden were named to the ACHA National All-Academic Team, while Knott was also honored on the ACHA All-West Second Team.

ETBU Acrobatics and Tumbling participated in two meets during the Spring semester, competing against the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and Concordia University-Wisconsin. ETBU won the compulsory event by three points against UMHB and then set a new program record scoring 236.035 points against CUW. Academically, ETBU had 10 members named to the National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association (NCATA) 2020 Academic Honor Roll. The Tiger Acrobatics & Tumbling recipients were Logan Angelle, Emily Buffington, Haylee Gentry, Berkley McDonald, Harleigh Prather, Rani Bentley, Hannah Hicks, Diana Garcia, Claire Rizzo, and Sarah Stanford.

ETBU finished the 2019 season as the FLW Southern Conference Champions earning the program’s first ever championship. They earned 1,752 points in the conference standings and finished eighth in the FLW Top 10 with 2,257 points, coming in less than 100 points from being the top program in the nation and 23 points from being in the top five. In January, Brett Clark and Cody Ross came in second place with a three-day total of 54 pounds at Toledo Bend for the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series. The finish earned them a spot in the 2020 national tournament. The Tiger Bass Team competed in June at the Boat US National Championships that took place on Pickwick Lake in Alabama. Jacob Keith and Cannon Bird finished in 15th place out of over 200 boats at 28 pounds, 97 ounces.

History continues to be made for the East Texas Baptist University Hockey Team, who received a bid to the ACHA Division II West Regional Tournament in Boise, Idaho. ETBU Hockey, in their fourth year as a program, earned their first playoff bid as the #10 team in the region. "Earning the bid was a very emotional moment for me and all the guys, we are very excited about this,” ETBU Head Hockey Coach Alain Savage said. “This is great for the program, as we are only in our fourth year. It is a big deal for all the players and coaching staff, who have been working for this all year long. It's pretty amazing to see.” The ACHA West Regional Tournament took place February 27-29, with 10 teams from the region competing for victories. ETBU won their opening game over California State University-Northridge, 5-4, in overtime. They finished the season at 24-5-1 after a, 6-1, loss to #3 Metropolitan State University of Denver. “The 2019-2020 ETBU Hockey team enjoyed an exciting and record breaking season that began in mid-August and wrapped up the last weekend of February. With the leadership of several key players that were part of the program in the inaugural season in 2016, as well as the growth of the team over the last few years, Tiger Hockey was the best collegiate team in Texas and represented the Texas Collegiate Hockey Conference (TCHC) and ETBU very well in their first regional tournament. The strides that were made during the 19-20 season have helped the Tigers continue to recruit top hockey student-athletes that desire to be a part of a regionally and nationally ranked, Christcentered program from across the country and beyond,” Vice President for Student Engagement and Athletics Ryan Erwin said.