By Pat Coleman
D3sports.com

Cedar Rapids, Iowa - Lynchburg took advantage of UW-La Crosse errors and miscues to put up five runs in the sixth and the Hornets got past the Eagles 8-6 to advance to the winners bracket at the 2023 Division III baseball World Series.

The Hornets (44-7) will play East Texas Baptist on Saturday in a game scheduled to start at 7:45 p.m. CT. The winner gets the reward of having Sunday off, as well as being 2-0 in tournament play. UW-La Crosse will face Salisbury in a game slated to start at 4:30.

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The teams traded three consecutive scoreless innings after Lynchburg got on the board in the bottom of the second. The Hornets scored twice, using four hits, a hit batter and a line drive back through the box that hit UW-L pitcher Isaiah Katz on the back of the hand. Katz recovered from that to get a big swinging strikeout from Carrson Atkins and Brandon Garcia skied one to center to end the inning.

The sixth inning saw Lynchburg all over the basepaths. Photo by Doug Sasse, d3photography.com

La Crosse wasted a chance to get one back in the top of the third. Leadoff batter Jack Moran got aboard but was immediately picked off. Jordan Williams and Mac Born followed with singles sandwiched around a deep drive by Jack Olver which was tracked down in right center field.

The Eagles (36-12) had tied the game in the top of the sixth due in part to a key coaching decision. Chris Schwarz elected to use one of his challenges, and it paid off. Olver led off with a ball lofted into left field that was ruled a diving catch before it was overturned on replay. Born then dropped a fly ball just inside the left field line to put runners on second and third, and Anthony Vivian was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

That’s when it got a little crazy. Ty Hamilton hit a fly to center that was dropped. Born scored, as he would have anyway on a sac fly, but Vivian moved up to third and Hamilton wound up on second. Zack Potts got George Seaman to hit into double play but that brought home another run to tie it up.

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The Eagles were not able to shut the Hornets down in the bottom half of the sixth, however. UW-La Crosse committed two errors, plus Benton Jones hit one off the base of the wall about 400 feet away in right-center field to bring home two runs and chase Katz. In all, Lynchburg scored five runs in the sixth, four of them unearned, to take a 7-2 lead.

Lynchburg manufactured an insurance run on a single, sacrifice bunt, passed ball and wild pitch, as Sean Pokorek single-handedly took two extra bases to score, taking advantage of a tendency he and his teammates had spotted. "The catcher had been dropping the ball pretty much most of the game just spontaneously," Pokorek said. "He dropped one and I was just looking to see that opportunity and then just take an extra bag because it's a lot harder and a lot more stress on the pitcher and catcher when there's a runner around third, honestly, with an opportunity to score."

With All-America closer Jack Bachmore coming in for the final six outs, one would have pictured it would be a quick finish. Instead, UWL loaded the bases with nobody out, but only managed to push across one run, on a Hamilton sac fly to left-center. Eric Hiett made a diving stop at first base to prevent a double and Bachmore induced an infield grounder to third base to end the inning.

Then in the ninth, it got even crazier. Logan Pye led off with a double that hit off the glove of the left fielder at the wall in left-center. Jack Moran walked, and Jordan Williams hit one off the foul pole to cut the lead to 8-6, and Bachmore was chased without recording a single out in the ninth. Freshman Mason McDowell came in and got an infield grounder, then hit Born with a pitch, as Born reached base for the fifth time on the night. McDowell got Anthony Vivian swinging and finished it off with Hamilton grounding to second. 

"Jack has been amazing all year, so he's allowed not to be great," said Lynchburg coach Lucas Jones. "Unfortunately, it's in a big moment like that. But I also think he's very grateful for (us) being able to, to get the win. When it comes to pitching decisions and matchups and scouting and things like that, I'm on the outside looking in. That's Coach (Travis) Beazley. And Beaz walked by me and said, I'm gonna make a move right here. I said, okay, all right, let's go get it."

For McDowell, it was "definitely" the biggest moment of his career to date. "Beazley just called me, called my name on the radio and I just went over there and got hot." 

"I mean, I just wasn't thinking about anything but closing the game out."

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Potts got the win to improve to 12-0 on the season. McDowell got his first save. Bachmore, who entered the game with an 8-1 record, 13 saves, and just 13 earned runs allowed in 74-2/3 innings, gave up four runs, all earned, while recording just four of the six outs he was called upon to get. Katz picked up his first loss of the season to fall to 7-1.

Born finished 4-for-4 for UW-La Crosse with a run scored, while Williams was 2-for-5 with three RBI, all on the ninth-inning homer. Sean Pokorak and Holden Friedler had three hits apiece to lead Lynchburg.

"We had a tough inning," said UW-La Crosse coach Chris Schwarz. "That’s not going to define us and it’s not going to define how we play tomorrow."

"Yeah, that's pretty much our game," said Jones. "We've played a lot of different games this year and found ways to win."