Texas-Tyler 7, Texas Lutheran 6
CLINTON, Miss – A three-run rally in the top of the ninth inning propelled The University of Texas at Tyler baseball team to a 7-6 win over Texas Lutheran in the opening game of the 2009 American Southwest Conference Baseball Championships at Mississippi College’s Frierson Field on Friday afternoon.
Down 4-6 going into the ninth, the Patriots (35-9) capitalized on their final at bat, starting with leadoff batter Austin Newell’s double to centerfield. Texas Lutheran (30-13) immediately brought in reliever Tom Hembree to replace starter Brad Orosey, but Hembree hit UT Tyler’s Nathan Skeen on just his second pitch to put two Patriots on base. A passed ball advanced both runners and Kendall Fox grounded out to second to score Newell.
Chad Daleiden lined out to short for the second out of the inning before Jeremy Harding came to the plate and doubled to center, scoring Jake Ashley who was running for Skeen to even the score at 6-6. The next Patriots’ batter, Chris Tucker, belted the 1-2 pitch through the left side to plate Harding and put UT Tyler on top.
Texas Lutheran’s Ryan Nokelby struck out to begin the bottom of the ninth and Jeremy Macklin singled to short but was put out when Drew Farr grounded in to a double play to end the game.
Tommy Rozell got the win for UT Tyler after pitching two innings in relief of starter Bret Holland. Holland struck out six and allowed two earned runs over his seven innings of work.
The loss belonged to TLU’s Hembree who allowed two runs in the ninth.
Paige Hodges scored the game’s first run when he homered to right field in the top of the second inning for the Patriots. Texas Lutheran responded with one run in the bottom of the second, three more in their half of the third, and one in the fourth before UT Tyler scored again in the fifth on a Daleiden single that brought in Newell.
Brock Lemire ripped a two-run bomb over the left field wall that scored Tucker in the sixth inning to account for the Patriots’ two other runs.
UT Tyler will play the winner of UT Dallas/Mississippi College at 3:30 p.m. Saturday for a spot in Sunday’s ASC title game.
Texas Lutheran Recap
UT-Tyler Recap
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Brett Hinson threw a three-hit shutout to improve to 10-2.
Mississippi College 10, Texas-Dallas 0
CLINTON, MS – The Mississippi College baseball team opened the American Southwest Conference Tournament Championship Round with a 10-0 victory over Texas-Dallas on Friday night at Frierson Field. Senior Brett Hinson (10-2) struck out 10 batters over seven innings to pick up the win for the Choctaws (29-14).
With the win the Choctaws advanced to a winner’s bracket game against Texas-Tyler at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon at Frierson Field. The Patriots scored three runs in the ninth inning to come from behind to defeat Texas Lutheran.
UTD and TLU will play an elimination game at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday with the winner moving onto another elimination game at 7:00 p.m.
The Choctaws scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI ground out by Brannon Walls that scored Andy Smith. That was all that Hinson would need as MC would go on to run-rule the Comets.
Smith drove in a run of his own in the second inning on a sacrifice fly that scored Charlie Lane.
The Choctaws broke the game open in the third inning by scoring three runs, highlighted by an RBI double down the left field line that hit the third base bag.
In the sixth inning, the Choctaws added three more runs to take an 8-0 lead on a two-run single by Bo Bell that went off the pitcher’s leg all the way into right field.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Choctaws got off a walk-off single by Walls that scored Chase Herrin.
Every Choctaw finished the night with at least one hit, with four players picking up two hits apiece.
Hinson was just as stellar as the offense, shutting down the most powerful lineup in the nation. The Vidalia, LA native only allowed three hits to the top home run hitting team in the nation.
UT-Dallas Recap
Mississippi College Recap
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