The trip began in Leavenworth, where Tabor took on the Saint Mary Spires.

In the opener, pitcher Casey Hillman picked up a 5-1 win with relief help from Layne Frick.

Tabor took a 2-0 led in the third inning when Tanner Monhollon walked to lead off. After Nick Green singled and Grant Brubacher walked to load the bases, the Bluejays scored runs on sacrifices by Kevin Peterson and Chance Miles.

Tabor added another run in the sixth as Hillman reached on a fielder's choice and eventually scored on a Brian Kimsey single.

After Saint Mary cut the lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth, Tabor added insurance in the top of the seventh when Green doubled, Brubacher singled, Peterson walked Miles and Hillman sacrificed.

Hillman (5-3) picked up the win while Frick earned his second save of the season.

Tabor's second game of the day ended in heartbreaking fashion as the Spires managed to salvage an 8-7 victory.

Tabor led 1-0 in the top of the first inning when Brubacher was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on Peterson's double.

Saint Mary took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the inning off Andy Womack (5-4) and stretched it to 4-1 after two innings.

But Tabor bounced back in the third when Green and Brubacher singled to set up a three-run home run off the bat of Peterson to knot the score at 4.

The Bluejays took a 6-4 lead in the fifth inning when Green doubled, moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a Brubacher ground out. Peterson walked and came around to score on a Hillman sacrifice.

After Saint Mary cut the lead to 6-5 in the sixth, Tabor pushed across another run in the seventh as Hillman belted his third home run of the season for a 7-5 lead.

But Saint Mary battled back.

After allowing consecutive singles, Frick struck out the next Spire batters and the Bluejays were within one out of victory.

But Saint Mary collected two more singles, topped by a Tabor error, and captured the 8-7 win.

"They had about five Texas Leaguers in the final inning," coach John Sparks said. "It's one thing to get beat on hard-hit base hits, but to have them just drop hits in between us is kind of hard to take."

After a pair of exhibition games with Rogers State in Oklahoma, Tabor got back into action on Thursday in Fort Worth against Texas Wesleyan.

There, Tabor dropped an 11-6 decision.

Tabor's offense was highlighted by a two-run double from Hillman to give him 31 runs batted in for the season to go with his .357 batting average.

Josh Letourneau (0-1) took the loss.

On Saturday, the Bluejays invaded Irving, Texas, to play the University of Dallas, but the results were similar as Tabor lost by a 4-2 margin.

Tabor jumped on top 2-0 in the third inning when Green and Peterson singled and Miles chased them both home with a two-out triple.

But Dallas answered with one run in the fourth inning and three in the fifth.

Scott Wolf (1-6) was the hard-luck loser, allowing nine hits, walking one and striking out three.

"Wolf pitched well enough to win on Saturday, but we just didn't hit the ball," Sparks said.

Following the road trip, Tabor is 14-18 overall record and 2-6 in the KCAC.

"We saw some good competition on this trip," Sparks said. "I told the guys now we just have to wipe everything aside and get ready for the final 18 games and look at it as a season in itself.

"We need to wipe all the frustrating losses aside because we have the most important part of our season ahead of us now."

Coming-Tabor was scheduled to host Kansas Wesleyan Tuesday afternoon before traveling to Lindsborg on Saturday to battle 13th-ranked Bethany College beginning at 1 p.m.