MARSHALL, Texas – East Texas Baptist baseball team captured its first American Southwest Conference Championship title after winning five straight elimination games including a doubleheader on Sunday at Woods Field. The Tigers answered an early deficit to Hardin-Simmons in game one to win 16-8 and sealed the trophy with an 8-1 final.
The Tigers (35-11) earned the ASC’s automatic berth into the NCAA National Championship Tournament, which will be announced on Monday (May 15) at 11:00 a.m. on NCAA.com.
Both teams were seeking the first conference baseball title for their programs. Hardin-Simmons had been unbeaten heading into Sunday and handed ETBU a loss on Friday, 12-4, to put the host team in a situation of having to win five in a row.
ETBU powered through in the first championship game answering a 4-0 hole with a grand slam by Brett Wagner in the third inning. Hardin-Simmons scored two runs in the fourth inning with one coming off a home run by Luke Kirkbride. Jordan Hara had a three-run blast flip the scoreboard a final time for the Tigers fourth inning and start a string of nine runs in a row through the rest of the game. This was highlighted by a five-run sixth that put the game out of reach.
There were nine home runs in that first game combined with five from the Tigers. Wagner (5) and Hara (3) combined for eight RBI. Karson Leatherwood led the Cowboys with a 4-for-5 game and run-batted-in.
In the final game of the tournament, ETBU received an outstanding performance from tournament Most Valuable Player Jagger Neely. He logged eight shutout innings working around four hits and three walks. He struck out six and induced 13 groundouts on 106 pitches.
The Tigers scored in the first inning on a home run by Carson Wilson. ETBU was able to plate two more runs in the second inning, as the Cowboys (22-23) could not find an answer. Things remained 3-0 until a two-run sixth inning that included a single by Jake Miller and sacrifice flyout by Jacob Evangelista. A Jones home run in the seventh scored two and another run opened an 8-0 edge. The Cowboys avoided the shutout in the ninth, but the Tigers were able to close things out on their home field this season.
Miller tallied three RBI to lead the Tigers in game two and Jones had a 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI and matched Nick Massarini with a team-high three runs.
Hardin-Simmons was led by Karson Leatherwood with a 2-for-3 and run scored. Caidon Livingston, who pitched Thursday for the Cowboys went six innings in the start trying to keep his team in it. He went six innings with five runs allowed on eight hits and logged 108 pitches. He fanned five.
All-Tournament Team
Most Valuable Player - Jagger Neely, East Texas Baptist
Gannon Azios, Hardin-Simmons
Jeremy Colon, Hardin-Simmons
Luke Finn, UT Dallas
Cole Godkin, East Texas Baptist
?Dane Jones, LeTourneau
Jase Jones, East Texas Baptist
Luke Kirkbride, Hardin-Simmons
Ben Lea, East Texas Baptist
Karson Leatherwood, Hardin-Simmons
Tye Lindsey, Sul Ross State
Jake Miller, East Texas Baptist
Cameron Pfafman, LeTourneau
Mason Vasquez, Concordia Texas
Ryan Vera, UT Dallas