(Photo courtesy of Joshua Moczygemba)
GEORGETOWN, Texas - The top two seeds - Trinity University and Centenary College - will play for the 2013 SCAC Baseball Championship Sunday on the campus of Southwestern University. Tournament Website
Trinity is undefeated and Centenary will need to knock off the Tigers twice to claim the conference title. Trinity defeated Centenary 4-3 in 11 innings in Saturday's first game - a game that lasted 4 hours and 35 minutes largely due to a lengthy lightning delay leading into the 10th inning.
Centenary bounced back to make it to Sunday's title game with a 14-0 run-rule victory over the University of Dallas.
Dallas had advanced with an 8-1 victory over Austin College a game earlier.
GAME ONE
Trinity 4, Centenary 3 (11 innings)
Trinity University's Chris Bianchi tied the game with a home run in the bottom of the ninth and Christian Muscarello drove home the game-winner in the 11th as the Tigers advanced to the championship game of the 2013 SCAC Baseball Tournament with a 4-3 victory over top-seeded Centenary College Saturday afternoon on the campus of Southwestern University. Box Score
Trinity jumped on the scoreboard first with an RBI sacrifice fly by Jonathan Hall and added another in the third on an RBI single by Will Donnan to take a 2-0 lead early.
Centenary got their first hit and run of the game in the fifth on a suicide squeeze by Nic Parrott and tied the game 2-2 in the sixth on Tyler Clakley's RBI single to right.
Great defensive plays on both sides kept the game tied until the Gents secured their first lead of the game on a walk to Jemari James in the eighth.
With one swing of the bat, Bianchi brought the game even 3-3 as the Tiger catcher took the first pitch off the scoreboard in left field in the bottom of the ninth.
After a lengthy lightening delay the teams took the field again. The tenth inning went scoreless and Centenary threatened in the top of the 11th but were ultimately fruitless. Trinity took advantage as Muscarello singled to center to drive in Troy Gillen for the game-winner.
GAME TWO
Dallas 8, Austin College 1
Dallas used a six-run third inning to distance itself from Austin College and the Crusaders never looked back in Saturday's 8-1 elimination game victory over the 'Roos. Box Score
Andrew Bossert bounced back from a tough opening game and went the distance, pitching a complete game. The right-hander scattered 10 hits, struck out eight and the only run he allowed was unearned.
Leadoff hitter Tug McRoberts went 4-for-4 at the plate with an RBI and two runs scored and Alex Thornton was 3-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored. His 2-run single in the third was the big blow that helped blow open the game.
The Crusaders (20-22) advance to take on Centenary while Austin College ends its season with a 12-29 mark.
GAME THREE
Centenary 14, Dallas 0
(Story courtesy of the Centenary College website)
The Centenary College baseball team forced a rematch against No. 7 Trinity as the Gents (26-14) eliminated the University of Dallas from the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship 14-0. Centenary fell 4-3 in extra innings to TU earlier in the day. Box Score
The Maroon and White would have to top the Tigers twice tomorrow to claim the conference title. The day starts at 12 p.m. with the "if necessary" game scheduled to start approximately 30 minutes following the outing.
Centenary scored early and often in the nightcap - plating a run in six of the seven innings. The contest took a different approach than the previous five meetings between the two schools as all five outings were decided by one run.
Tyler Clakley jump started the scoring with a two-run, homerun in the Gents first trip to the dish. The homer was the first of a team-leading, three hits by the Tyler, Texas, native. The senior drove in four runs in the contest.
Ryan Gasporra tallied his second of two hits in the second inning to help break the game open as the Palm Dale, Calif., native tripled to score Nic Parrott, Marc Martinez and Christian Sebastien. The senior catcher later scored on a Clakley single to extend the lead to 6-0.
That would be all Gents' hurler Paul Arcement (2-1) needed in the contest to pick up his second win of the season. The Shreveport, La., native and SCAC Co-Freshman of the Year struck out four Crusaders while allowing three hits. The complete-game victory marked the first of the season for Arcement.
Sebastien also garnered multiple hits on the night for the Gents.
After scoring two runs in the third and fifth frames, Craig Littleman delivered a solo homerun in the sixth to extend the lead to 11-0.
Centenary added three runs in the seventh to ice the contest.
Martin Cronin took the loss for the Crusaders allowing 10 runs on eight hits in 4.2 innings.
In the opening game of the day, Christian Muscarello sealed the fate of the Maroon and White as he singled to center field to score Troy Gillen in the bottom of the 11th. The extra inning affair was the second between the two squads this season with each team claiming an extended outing.
Trailing 2-0 through the first four innings of the opener, the Gents rallied back with a run in each of the fifth, sixth and eighth innings to take their first lead of the game.
After Jamari James scored on a Parrott sacrifice in the fifth inning, a Clakley RBI-single in the sixth inning knotted the contest at 2-all. James later contributed to the run total for the second time in the game as the St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, senior drew a bases loaded walk to push Gasporra across the dish for the go-ahead run.
A Chris Bianchi solo homerun, one of his three hits of the day, in the ninth inning forced the second, deadlock of the contest setting up the extra inning affair.
Ryan Gray (1-0) logged the win with fanning three hitters in 2.1 innings of work while allowing just one hit and a walk.
Chase Clarke (3-2) took the loss on the bump for the Gents walking two in 1.1 of action.
