Texas Lutheran, McMurry, Texas-Dallas and University of the Ozarks advanced to the ASC Championship tournament to be hosted by Texas-Dallas.
Texas Lutheran defeated Mississippi College with a 17-6 win in the third and final game of the ASC divisional playoff series.
TLU (32-8-1) rebounded from a 4-3 loss to the Choctaws (17-25) in the first game Saturday. The Choctaw win forced a decisive game three and pushed the No. 8-ranked Bulldogs to the brink of elimination. TLU won Friday's first game of the series, 6-5.
TLU quickly fell behind 3-0 in the series finale before rallying for nine runs on eight hits in the bottom of the first inning. TLU sent 14 batters to the plate and received RBI from Joseph Brade, Jason Foley, Josh Moreno, Brandon Opheim, Ryan Nokelby and Jake Kaase.
Scott Matocha registered a hit in both games and pushed his hitting streak to 22 games. Matocha is one game shy of tying the school record of 23, set by Jess Gingrich in 1999.
Logan Hull (6-2) relieved TLU starter Kyle Newman to start the fifth inning and worked the rest of the game. Hull allowed just three hits in his five innings to record the victory.
Conner Douglas (2-7) took the loss for the Choctaws. Douglass retired just one batter in the first.
In Abilene, Texas, Louisiana College put a scare into McMurry, but it was short-lived and McMurry advanced to the championship round with a 14-4 win at Driggers Field Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats, playing as the home team due to ASC tournament rules, scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning to put McMurry in an early hole. However, McMurry responded with five runs in the third and didn't allow another LC run to cross the plate.
McMurry starter Nick Schafer got off to a shaky start in the first as Trent Malbrough, Jeremy Trahan, and Hunter White each recorded RBI singles for the Wildcats. Walt McGee also scored Matt Smith on a groundout and Louisiana was out to an early 4-0 lead.
However, Hank Casey scored on a balk for McMurry's first run in the second inning. Then, Joseph Cervantez and Derek David each added two-run singles and the team never trailed. Schafer finished with six innings of work allowing 10 hits and four runs. He walked one and struck out three and won his ninth decision of the season. Schafer is now one win away from tying the school record for wins in a season.
Every McMurry starter had multiple hits except George Whitten and Weston Franco in McMurry's 21-hit performance. Steven Yurchick had his second four-hit game of the season, driving in two runs and scoring two.
Cervantez, Casey, Thomas Beckham and Nathan Love all had three hits. Derek David and Brent Voorhees each had two. David finished with two RBIs and Voorhees had a game-high three RBIs.
McMurry will head to the championship round of the tournament on the campus of Texas-Dallas to face the hosts.
For next week's hosts, it was a two-game sweep over Hardin-Simmons 4-0 and 9-7. Comet pitcher Mark Cox got the six-hit complete game shutout on Friday night. Comet center fielder Mitch Elliott's two-RBI single in the fourth inning gave Cox the lead he would never relinquish. In Game 2 on Saturday, UT-D's Drew Waggoner pitched 6.2 innings to improve his record to 6-1. Comet DH Trent Elizondo' two-run homer in the top of the 8th gave the Comets the cushion for Tim Flasik to earn his third save of the season.
In Clarksville, Ark., Mary Hardin-Baylor used one late-inning comeback to send the series to a third game, but the third game comeback fell short as the Cru was eliminated by ASC-East No. 2 seed University of the Ozarks. UMHB won game one 4-3 before falling 14-12 in the second game of the day. The Eagles improve to 24-19 on the year and will advance to take on Texas Lutheran.
UMHB used a three-run eighth-inning rally and an outstanding pitching performance from R.B. Garza to post a 4-3 victory to open the day. The Cru took a 1-0 lead on Adam Froeschl's solo homer in the bottom of the first inning. David Smith scored on a delayed steal attempt as the Eagles tied it at one in the third. John Glenn and Todd Koch hit RBI singles in the top of the eighth to give Ozarks a 3-1 lead. Steven Reinlie tied the game in the bottom of the frame with a mammoth two-run homer. Ricky LaFont and Jonathan Whitehead followed with singles to make it a 4-3 UMHB lead. Garza then shut down the Eagles in the top of the ninth to run his record to 6-4. He struck out five and walked two in a nine-hitter. John Schuering took the loss for Ozarks to drop to 3-2. LaFont was 3-for-4 for UMHB and Froeschl and Reinlie added two hits apiece for the Cru.
Both offenses were in high gear in a 14-12 Ozarks win in the second game. Robby Finnell's grand slam gave the Eagles a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning. LaFont singled home two runs in the bottom of the first to cut it to 4-2. Marcus Volz and Froeschl hit RBI singles in the second and Chase Beyrand added a two-run home run to give UMHB a 6-4 lead. Ozarks added four in the third with Glenn's two-run single being the biggest hit. The Eagles stretched the lead to 9-6 on David Isom's RBI single in the fourth. UMHB answered with four in the bottom of the fourth, as LaFont and Garza singled home runs and two more runs scored on an error to give UMHB a 10-9 lead. Froeschl added another RBI single in the sixth to give the Cru an 11-9 edge. Finnell came up big with a three-run homer in the top of the seventh to put the Eagles up 12-11.
After a pair of Ozarks runs, Reinlie crushed a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth and UMHB put two runners on base, but could not score again. Corey Dobbins took the loss for the Cru to drop to 3-2 on the year. Curt Dixon earned the win in relief for Ozarks to improve to 6-3 on the season.
The Eagles face Texas Lutheran on Friday, May 4, in the American Southwest Conference tourney.