MARSHALL, Texas – Claiming the program's first-ever American Southwest Conference regular season championship, East Texas Baptist University took game one of the double header, 3-2, in extra innings on a walk-off double over #17 University of Texas Dallas. ETBU then fell in game two of the double header, 18-8, but won the overall series to secure the #1 seed in the ASC Tournament in two weeks. ETBU is now 28-11 and finish at 24-6 in the ASC which is the most conference wins in program history.
WAGNER CATCH/WALK OFF HIT
Game 1
ETBU 3, UTD 2
Sayers Collins went the distance tying the ETBU single game record of 15 set by Marty Mayfield in 2001. He now has 108 strikeouts on the year and needs 10 strikeouts to break Mayfield's record of 117 set in 2001.
The game went into extra innings and came down to the ninth where
Brett Wagner solidified a great performance on the day. In the top of ninth with two outs and two runners on base, UTD's Andrew Skivington hit a long fly ball to left field where Wagner jumped up and grabbed the ball from over the fence for the final out and finish off the Comets threat. Wagner then became the walk-off hero in the bottom of the ninth inning as the second batter of the inning. After
Austin Barry walked, Wagner doubled to center field and as Barry rounded third base an errant throw from the outfield allowed him to come home as the winning run. In less than a 10-minute time span, Wagner caught the biggest out of the game and the produced the biggest hit as ETBU claimed the series and their first-ever ASC regular season championship.
It was pitcher's dual in the game from the beginning. Collins and UTD's Carter Cochrane battled through seven innings. Cochrane was then pulled for relief ace Orion Drymond who had nine saves on the year. Cochrane allowed just two earned runs in the game with four strikeouts on four hits. Drymond came in and went 1-2-3 in the eighth showing his pitching strength after Cocorane's strong performance. The whole time, Collins was matching UTD's staff retiring the side in the first, sixth, seventh, and eighth innings. In the ninth inning, he struck out three straight batters but a dropped third strike on the third batter allowed the runner on base. Overall, he pitched out of jams in the fourth and ninth innings.
Will Kelley collected another home run in the series to start off the game in the bottom of the first inning. UTD tied the game in third on a home run and then took the lead in the fourth, 2-1, on a fielder's choice. With two outs in the fifth inning,
Carson Wilson singled to centerfield as
Zachary McAdams came in to tie the game from third base. There were three scoreless innings until the walk-off hit in the ninth for the win.
ETBU had five hits in the game as McAdams posted two of them. Wagner, Kelley, and Wilson each had a hit.
Game 2
UTD 18, ETBU 8
This game led to a back-and-forth scoring affair that UTD took over in the fourth inning. After ETBU came back to take the lead, 8-5, in the bottom of the third inning, UTD scored five runs in the fourth, three in the fifth, four in the sixth, and one in the seventh for the 10-run lead.
Christopher Robinson went 3-of-4 with three RBI while
Charles Gordon was 2-of-2 with two RBI. Kelley posted a home run recording two RBI while Wilson added a RBI. Four pitchers were used as
Braden Karnes started the game going two innings giving up five runs (three earned) on five hits.
Peyton Miller followed and received the loss as he gave up five earned runs on three hits. Jagger Nelly went 1.2 innings with seven runs given up (four earned) on six hits.
Daniel Rubio finished out the game on 1.1 innings pitched with one earned run on four hits.
ETBU will travel to the University of Dallas on Tuesday for a single game starting at 3:00 p.m. to finish off the regular season.
