MARSHALL, Texas – Hosting the Marshall, Texas Super Regional for the second year in a row, no. 4 East Texas Baptist University's 2024 season came to an end, 8-7, in the championship game against no. 12 Pomona-Pitzer College. ETBU finishes with 39 wins which is the second most in program history and were the 2024 NCAA Division III Marshall, Texas Regional Champions.
"We went into the season knowing that we were going to get everyone's best. These guys over the season to keep such a high intensity throughout the entire year and answer the call more times than not shows a lot about their character, what they are made of, the foundation that they set – it's a high bar that they set for this program and I am extremely proud this group and the way they were able to handle everything this season and we just came up a little bit short," said head coach
Jared Hood.
ETBU set program records of consecutive wins with 18 and reaching their highest ranking on no. 2 in the nation. They were also ranked in the top 10 all season long in both the D3baseball.com and ABCA National Polls.
Producing eight hits, ETBU was led by
Jacob Evangelista and
Hunter Rumachik with two hits each. Rumachik led the team with three RBI while
Dylan Burnaman,
Connor Massimini, and
Brett Wagner had one RBI. Burnaman recorded a home run.
Jagger Neely received the start and no decision going 4.1 innings with four strikeouts giving up five earned runs on seven hits.
Robert Croft was given the loss with three innings of work as
Brayden Hodges and
Jacob Sherman also pitched the final 1.2 innings.
Coming down to big hits with two outs, Pomona-Pitzer scored four of their eight runs in those situations. Both teams left a large amount of runners on base as ETBU had seven in scoring position with two outs but couldn't get a hit to bring them in.
The start of the game mirrored day one as ETBU opened up with a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Massimini singled in Evangelista with no outs for the 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Wagner grounded out but Burnaman came home making it 2-0. With two outs and a runner on third, the inning ended with a ground out.
Pomona-Pitzer's first two batters flew out and struck to start the second inning but a single and then a home run tied the game at two. ETBU started the bottom of the inning with a double by
Cameron French but two strike outs and a pop out ended the early threat. Pomona-Pitzer put together back-to-back singles in the third inning that led to a fielder's choice RBI and the lead, 3-2. Burnaman, though, started the bottom of the third with a home run to tie the game at three.
The Sagehens went 1-2-3 in the fourth as ETBU scored one in the bottom of the inning on an error for the 4-3 lead. Pomona-Pitzer led off the top of the fifth with a home run tying the game and then scored on a bases loaded walk to re-take the lead, 5-4.
Rumachik singled in Massimini with one out in the fifth to tie the game at five. ETBU had runners on first and third with one out after tying the game but grounded into a double play ending any threat of scoring more runs.
After a walk started the sixth inning, Pomona-Pitzer grounded into a double play. Two straight singles and a passed ball put runners on second and third with two outs. The next batter singled up the middle for two runs as the Sagehens went up, 7-5.
ETBU had a runner on to start the bottom of the sixth but a double play put two outs on the board. Another walk to Evangelista put him on first but a ground out ended the inning. The bottom of the seventh had another chance for ETBU to score as runners were on first and second with two outs but a strike out ended the chance to bring in a run.
With two outs in the top of the eighth inning, Pomona-Pitzer homered to left field for a three-run advantage, 8-5. ETBU then went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning headed into the ninth.
Sherman pitched out of a jam in the ninth inning with runners on second and third with one out. The final three batters of the inning, he struck out two ending their threat to extend the lead.
The ninth inning brought excitement for ETBU as two runs were scored to pull within one, 8-7. Burnaman reached on an error and a hit-by-pitch to Massimini put two runners on to start the inning. After a strikeout, a wild pitch advanced both runners to second and third base. Wagner then walked to lead the bases as ETBU trailed, 8-5. Rumanchik then came through with a single into right field scoring both Massimini and Burnaman. Now with runners on first and second and one out, ETBU looked to tie the game. ETBU's threat, though, ended as the next two batters struck out ending any hope of extending the series to the if-game falling, 8-7.
ETBU was the 2024 ASC regular season champions and Marshall, Texas Regional Champions recording 39 wins. Over the past four years, ETBU has won 143 games, won three-straight ASC regular season titles, two Marshall, Texas Regional Tournaments, and one ASC Tournament. They have broken program records and now become one of the top NCAA Division III programs in the nation.
