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| Needing three wins over Lewis & Clark to secure its spot, Pacific was up to the challenge, no matter how long it took, defeating the Pioneers 5-4 Monday in 13 innings to complete the series sweep."That game reminded me of our season as a whole, a lot of ups and downs," Pacific baseball coach Brian Billings said. "Coming out on top feels awesome. I'm just happy for the guys. They put a lot of work in this season." Pacific athletics photo by Riya Patel |
No. 1 seed Keystone captured the 2024 Skye Division Baseball Championship with an 8-2 win over No. 2 seed Cairn Monday afternoon at Christy Mathewson Field. With the win, Keystone moves to 31-11 and have secured their spot in the United East Conference Baseball Championship Series. Cairn ends their season at 26-17. Darren Hagan and Robert Estrada both tallied two hits and one RBI. Nate Ewing and Chase Boyle also had two hits this afternoon. Andy Rivas and Bobby Pokorney contributed with an RBI base knock. Sean Brennan got the start and picked up his sixth win of the season as he went 7.1 innings and allowed just one hit with 10 strikeouts. Brandon Valles and Nick Gravel appeared in relief. The Giants will play Penn State-Harrisburg, the winner of the Volt Division which is set to begin on Friday, May 10 and run until Saturday, May 11. The Lions defeated St. Mary's (Md) 10-2 to advance.
Playing in a winner-take-all Game Three of the MAC Commonwealth Semifinal Series, top-seeded Messiah clinched a spot in the MAC Commonwealth Championship Series with a 9-2 victory over the York Spartans. The Falcons jumped out to a 4-0 lead after four innings of play and never looked back, adding insurance runs late to claim their second straight victory and earn a spot in the Conference Championship Series for the first time since 2016. Messiah got on the board with a pair of runs in the second inning before Isaiah Parido launched a solo home run onto the tennis courts behind the right-field wall in the third. Another run in the fourth bumped Messiah's lead up to 4-0. York chipped away with runs in the fifth and sixth innings, but the Falcons added five runs of insurance across the sixth, seventh, and eighth to claim the 9-2 win. On the mound, Josh Nielsen threw 5.2 quality innings, allowing a pair of runs on two hits and three walks. Christian Foltz and Noah Barrall tossed the final 3.1 innings as the Falcons moved to 34-9 with the victory. The Falcons will advance to the MAC Commonwealth Championship Series with a three-game series coming up with the second-seeded Alvernia Golden Wolves. The first game of the series is scheduled for Friday afternoon.
Gustavus concluded its 2024 campaign Monday at the Gustie Baseball Field with a 9-2 win over Crown College. The Gusties finish the year with a 23-16 record and just one game out of the MIAC playoffs at 12-8 in the league. Once Saint Mary's defeated Concordia in the second game of their conference doubleheader, which eliminated the Gusties from playoff contention, Head Coach Brad Baker gave a nod to a number of graduating seniors with impromptu ceremonial substitutions. Noah Meffert, a career pitcher, got a chance to hit in the seventh and responded with his first career hit - a single down the left field line. Four batters later, Gavin Baker drew a bases loaded walk and was taken out of the game to a standing ovation. Between the eighth and ninth innings, Bryce Novak took the field alone and found himself in center field for the final time in his standout career. Novak was then subbed out to a standing ovation, leaving the field as the program's all-time hit record holder and arguably the greatest player in program history. Jaeden Kenward then wrapped up his collegiate career by sealing the victory on the mound in his second career appearance. Danny Gavin's sac fly in the fourth to score Luke Siegle proved to be the game-winning run, giving the Gusties a 3-2 lead. The home teams added three runs in the fifth and another three in the seventh for the convincing win. Gavin lead the team at the plate, batting 3-for-3 with four RBI and a walk. The Gusties used a different pitcher in all nine innings, allowing two runs and eight hits with nine strikeouts.
Joshua Murphy smacked his first collegiate home run, Jeff Hoffman and Clint Walker each earned three hits, and the Willamette defense turned a triple play, as the Bearcats defeated Whitman, 9-2, on Monday at John Lewis Field. Willamette upped its record to 25-13 on the season, 15-9 in the Northwest Conference. Whitman fell to 25-15 overall, 16-8 in the NWC. In the top of the sixth Brandon Ting of Whitman lined into a triple play with runners at first and second. Foster, playing second base, started the triple play by catching Ting's low line drive behind second base. He threw to Baskin at shortstop to throw out Garrett Runyon, who failed to tag up at second. Baskin relayed the ball to Hoffman at first base. Hoffman touched the bag to put out Bickerton, who also was unable to tag up after the line out.
Both teams concluded the regular season on Monday, but the Bearcats and the Blues will be back in action this weekend at the 2024 NWC Tournament in Walla Walla, Washington. The tournament is slated for Friday, May 10 through Sunday, May 12. Whitman, the NWC regular season champion, will host the tournament. Willamette won two of three games in the series with Whitman to clinch second place in the standings. The Bearcats will open the NWC Tournament as the home team against Whitworth (14-10 NWC) on Friday at 3 p.m. PDT. The fourth and final spot will go to either Pacific (12-11) or Linfield (12-12).
- Photo gallery: Northwestern (Minn.) vs. Augsburg
Augsburg University closed out the 2024 campaign on a positive note, topping the University of Northwestern-St. Paul 13-3 in eight innings on Monday evening at Reynolds Field. After the Eagles opened the first inning with a run to take a 1-0 lead, the Auggie bats came alive with six straight runs over the next four innings. Augsburg dominated the late innings, scoring two in the seventh and four in the eighth while holding the Eagles scoreless to finish the game in eight innings via the 10-run mercy rule.
Marietta College closed out the regular season with a pair of 9-2 wins over Capital University Monday afternoon in Ohio Athletic Conference action. The Pioneers improve to 21-17 overall and 12-6 in the OAC. Capital concludes its season with a 10-28 overall record and 3-15 in the OAC. Marietta has earned the No. 3 seed in this weekend's OAC Tournament and will play No. 2 seed Otterbein on Thursday (May 9) at 3:00 p.m. Baldwin Wallace is the regular season champion and top seed. The Yellow Jackets will host the tournament and play No. 4 seed Ohio Northern at 12:00 p.m. on Thursday.