By Don Gilmore, TMU Assistant Sports Information Director

Josh Robison slugged a go-ahead, two-run homer in the eighth inning and No. 14 The Master’s University rallied from a three-run deficit to beat No. 8 Hope International 7-6 in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday afternoon at Lou Herwaldt Stadium.

The victory was the Mustangs’ sixth in a row and lifted them to 6-2 in the GSAC and 11-4 overall.

Tied at five-all in the last of the eighth inning, the Mustangs used a Royal error to put Adam Rubio on base and then Robison stepped to the plate and cracked his team-high round-tripper down the left line to put the Mustangs up 7-5.

The Royals halved that deficit with a run in the top of the ninth, but junior transfer Preston White induced a game-ending fly out to close out the win and lift his record to 2-2.

White also produced at the plate, helping the Mustangs draw first blood in their first at-bat. With one out, Max Maitland drew a walk, jogged to second base on a balk, and scored on White’s single to right field.

However, that slightest of leads disappeared in the top of the fourth when the Royals got to TMU starter Eric Williams for four runs and then added another an inning later to lead 5-1 halfway through the game.

In the last of the sixth, the Mustangs started to carve into the deficit when Rubio’s two-out single plated Jaiden France.

Then in the seventh, TMU caught the Royals with a trio of runs. Maitland drove in the first run with a groundout, White hit a sacrifice fly that plated Aaron Shackelford, and France tied the game with his second homer of the season, a blast over the left field fence.

All of that set the stage for Robison an inning later.

Nick Tuttle paced the Mustangs’ seven-hit attack with a 2-for-4 performance while White and Robison posted two RBIs each.

Here’s the box score.