PORTSMOUTH, Ohio – The Mount Vernon Nazarene University baseball team got two solid starting pitching performances, good bullpen work, and plenty of offensive firepower as the No. 3 seed Cougars knocked off top-seeded Shawnee State University twice to claim the American Mideast Conference Tournament title with 12-6 and 11-9 wins on Thursday at Branch Rickey Park to earn a berth in the NAIA National Championship Opening Round next week.
MVNU (32-21), which needed a win in the first game of the day to stay alive in the tournament after dropping game one of the AMC Tournament best-of-three championship series 11-6 on Wednesday, got off to a good start with an unearned run in the top of the first inning of game one as freshman second baseman Jordan Doherty reached on a one-out single through the right side, stole second, and came around to score on a fielding error as the Cougars took a 1-0 lead.
MVNU went right back to work in the top of the second inning after posting a scoreless inning on defense. With two outs, sophomore outfielder Chaz Gibson and junior shortstop Michael Hendren each singled. Freshman outfielder Brian Brockly followed with a short tapper up the third base line off the end of the bat that landed in foul territory and then spun fair for an infield single to load the bases. That hit proved to be a big one as Doherty followed with a grand slam to leftfield – his first career home run – as the Cougars took a 5-0 lead.
The lead grew to 10-0 in the top of the fourth inning as MVNU sent 10 batters to the plate and scored five runs on four hits and two hit batsmen. Brockly and Doherty each had run-scoring singles, junior outfielder Steve Williams was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in a run, and senior third baseman Matt Parks delivered a two-out, two-run single through the left side of the infield.
The Bears (30-29) finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth inning when a single and an error allowed an unearned run to score to make it 10-1.
The Cougars got the run back in the top of the fifth inning when Doherty beat out a potential inning-ending double play ball to drive in his career-high sixth run of the game and extend the lead to 11-1. A two-out, solo homer by Parks to leftfield in the top of the sixth inning made it 12-1 as he logged his third round-tripper of the year.
Two singles, a double, a sacrifice fly, and an error allowed Shawnee State to score three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Bears closed the gap to 12-4.
Then, in the bottom of the eighth inning, Shawnee State made it 12-6 with two singles, a double, and a sacrifice fly as the Bears continued to inch closer.
After MVNU failed to score in the top of the ninth inning, junior right-hander Caleb Wright (5-3) went back to the mound in the bottom of the ninth looking to record a complete game victory. However, after getting the first two batters on ground outs, Wright was drilled on the foot by a hard liner and forced to leave the game. Freshman lefty Justin Brown came in and promptly ended the game with a soft liner to first base as the Cougars reached the conference tournament championship game for the tenth time in 11 years with the 12-6 victory.
Wright earned the win on the mound as he scattered 12 hits, one walk, and six runs (four earned) over a career-high 8.2 innings with one strikeout. Brown got the final out from the only batter that he faced.
"Caleb did a great job for us on the mound and really kept (Shawnee State) off-balance," said MVNU coach Keith Veale. "It was key for us to get quality innings on the mound and he definitely delivered. Offensively, Jordan was really locked in and had a big game. We did a good job of building a lead and holding on to it."
Cory Pallutch (1-2) took the loss for Shawnee State as he gave up nine hits, one walk, and 10 runs over four innings with one strikeout. Greg Kettel worked 4.1 innings and allowed six hits, one walk, and two runs, and Jordan Williams got the final two outs and had one strikeout.
Doherty paced the Cougars’ 15-hit attack by going 3-for-6 with six RBI, while Hendren was 4-for-4 with three runs scored. Parks added a 3-for-4 performance with three RBI, and Brockly and Gibson added three and two hits respectively.
Nick Ball led the Bears by going 4-for-5, while Philip Butler and Kyle Hammontree had two hits apiece.
With the tournament title and a berth in the NAIA National Championship Opening Round down to a one game winner-take-all scenario, the two teams went back at it in the third and final game of the AMC Tournament best-of-three championship series.
Shawnee State took advantage of an error in the top of the first inning to get two men on with two outs for Brian Ramey. Ramey proceeded to blast a long three-run homer to leftfield to give the Bears an early 3-0 lead that momentarily helped them erase the memory of the first game loss.
However, the Cougars used a little two-out magic of their own in the bottom of the first inning to knot the score at 3-3. After the first two batters were retired, senior designated hitter Travis McInerney singled and sophomore first baseman Josh Roberts doubled to put runners at second and third. Williams followed with a three-run homer to rightfield – his fifth of the season – and MVNU regained its momentum.
After a scoreless top of the second inning for Shawnee State thanks in part to an inning-ending unassisted double play turned by Hendren on a soft liner with the base runners moving, the Cougars went right back to work on offense. After Brockly reached on an error with one out, Doherty hit a two-run shot to leftfield to put MVNU on top 5-3.
The Bears failed to score in the top of the third inning and then for the third straight inning the Cougars used the long ball to extend their lead to 7-3 as junior catcher Ian Durbin joined in on the power display with a two-run blast of his own to leftfield with one out. The homer was Durbin’s first of the year.
The trend continued in the bottom of the fourth inning after another scoreless inning for Shawnee State when Doherty pounded his second two-run bomb of the game and his third homer of the day to increase the lead to 9-3.
The score remained that way until the top of the sixth inning when the Bears began to mount a comeback. Ramey, who had four homers in the tournament and two in the game, and Zach Byler hit back-to-back solo shots to make it 9-5 and a sacrifice fly pulled Shawnee State within 9-6. Then, with two outs and two runners on, Gibson made a great diving catch on a hard liner in the right center gap to end the inning and preserve the lead for MVNU.
Byler hit his second home run of the game in the top of the seventh inning to make it 9-7, but the Cougars got the run back in the bottom of the seventh when McInerney drew a lead-off walk and came around to score on a double by Williams as the Bears committed an error on the play to put MVNU back up 10-7.
The Cougars tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning when Gibson led off the frame with his team-leading seventh home run of the year – a blast to left center that made it 11-7.
That run would prove to be a big one as Shawnee State did not go down without a fight in the top of the ninth inning. Danny Gesick doubled to right center and Philip Butler plated him with an RBI single to make it 11-8 as he moved to second on an error.
At that point, freshman right-hander Darren Athey was summoned from the MVNU bullpen to try to close out the game. Athey got a ground out with the runner moving to third and then a strikeout looking for the second out of the inning. Jordan Maier kept the Bears’ hopes alive with a single to center to make it 11-9 and bring the tying run to the plate. However, Kyle Hammontree grounded out to Parks at third base to end the game and start the celebration for the Cougars as they earned the program’s third berth in the NAIA National Championship and the first since 2004, which ironically was the last time the team had won their first game in the conference tournament.
Sophomore right-hander Jerrob Decker (5-0) picked up the win for MVNU as he scattered seven hits, three walks, and six runs (three earned) over 5.1 innings with four strikeouts. Brown tossed 1.2 innings and gave up two hits and one run, while freshman lefty Luis Bàez allowed three hits and two runs (one earned) over one-plus inning. Athey notched his school-record tenth save of the year by getting the last three outs with just one hit to go with one strikeout.
"I tell our team each year that the goal is to get to the postseason and anything can happen," said Veale, whose team got the final berth in the three-team tournament when Shawnee State won its final game of the year against Notre Dame College who would have gotten in with a win. "This tournament definitely proved that. Our guys really came ready to play today and everyone contributed to these two wins."
"We got more good innings on the mound as Jerrob, Justin, and Luis gave us a chance to win and then Darren closed it out," said Veale. "We did a great job of scoring in almost every inning and kept the pressure on (Shawnee State) by doing so."
Adam Wamsley (5-3) took the loss for Shawnee State as he allowed 12 hits, one walk, and 11 runs (nine earned) over seven-plus innings with four strikeouts. Wamsley had given up just one home run in 37 innings pitched on the year coming into the game, but he served up five long balls to the Cougars on Thursday. Adam Hatton worked the final inning and gave up one hit while striking out two.
Doherty capped off his 10 RBI day by going 3-for-5 with two homers and four RBI. Durbin added three hits and two RBI, and Williams had two hits and three RBI.
Ramey and Byler both had a pair of home runs to lead the Bears, while Putler and Quentin Everman also added two hits apiece.
MVNU will now wait to see where the Cougars will play in the NAIA National Championship Opening Round. There will be nine five-team Opening Round Tournaments that will get under way on Tuesday with the nine winners joining host Lewis-Clark State College at the 10-team Avista-NAIA World Series on May 28 in Lewiston, Idaho. The location of the nine Opening Round Tournaments will be released sometime late Thursday night with the complete brackets for each site being released by 6:00 p.m. on Friday.