MARSHALL, Texas – Hosting the American Southwest Conference Gold Championship Tournament Series for the first time in program history, East Texas Baptist University will face the University of Texas Dallas vying for their first-ever tournament championship. It will be the second year in a row that these two programs have met for the ASC Championship.
ETBU won the Blue Bracket Championship as the #1 seed sweeping through with wins over LeTourneau University, 12-2, and defeating Mary Hardin-Baylor, twice, 10-0, and 10-9. ETBU won the final game of the championship with a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th inning. They come into the championship game hosting a 32-11 record winning seven of their last eight games.
UTD came out of the loser's bracket to win the Red Bracket Championship as the #2 seed and host. They opened winning their first game, 6-1, over Concordia Texas but then fell to Belhaven University, 7-1, on day two. They bounced back after the loss in a 13-inning, 4-3, victory over Hardin-Simmons. On the final day, it took two wins over Belhaven, 13-8, and 8-4, to win the championship and advance on. They are now 32-13 on the year.
BLUE BRACKET CHAMPIONSHIP PRESSER
This year the two teams met to end the regular season as ETBU won game one and two for the ASC regular season title. ETBU held onto a 7-5 win in game one and then went nine innings in the seven-inning game to take the series, 3-2, and the #1 seed. In game three, though, UTD came back with a vengeance winning, 18-8.
Last year, UTD won both games in Richardson as the #1 seed over ETBU, 12-7, and 5-1. These two teams have seen each other multiple times in the past seven years and are 3-3 against each other in the ASC Tournament. ETBU won the Red Bracket Championship over UTD in 2017 but the Comets returned the favor in 2021 winning the ASC Championship. Overall in the entire series, UTD leads, 42-21. In the last six years, though, ETBU is 8-11 in their meetings.
This will be the third time in program history that ETBU is playing for the ASC Gold Bracket Championship. Their first appearance came in 2017 in Tyler, Texas, against the University of Texas Tyler. They fell in game one, 9-8, and then 6-1, in the next game. Both games went extra innings as the 9-8 loss was 13 innings and the second one 10 innings.
The first game of the three-game series will be on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. followed by 1:00 p.m. games on Friday and Saturday.
ETBU in the ASC Gold Championship Series (0-4)
2017: UTT 9, ETBU 8
2017: UTT 6, ETBU 1
2021: UTD 12, ETBU 7
2021: UTD 5, ETBU 1
ETBU vs. UTD in ASC Tournament (3-3)
Since 2015
2015: ETBU 8, UTD 7 – Austin, Texas
2015: UTD 5, ETBU 4 – Austin, Texas
2017: ETBU 9, UTD 8 – Richardson, Texas
2017: ETBU 11, UTD 7 – Richardson, Texas – Red Bracket Championship
2021: UTD 12, ETBU 7
2021: UTD 5, ETBU 1
ETBU Playoff Games at Woods Field (9-2)
Since 2015
2016: ETBU 8, HPU 6
2016: HSU 9, ETBU 8
2016: ETBU 23, SRSU 15
2016: ETBU 12, HSU 11
2016: HSU 8, ETBU 6
2021: ETBU 2, BU 1
2021: ETBU 10, Ozarks 3
2021: ETBU 11, LC 5 – Red Bracket Championship
2022: ETBU 12, LETU 2
2022: ETBU 10, UMHB 0
2022: ETBU 10, UMHB 9 – Blue Bracket Championship
