Posted: May 28, 2021
(Story courtesy of Texas Lutheran Athletic Communications)
WHITEWATER, Wis. -- Texas Lutheran right-hander Joe Burch kept the Bulldogs' season alive by tossing a dominant five-hit shutout of the regional's top seed Adrian College (Mich.) in a 4-0 TLU victory.
At the NCAA Division III Baseball Whitewater, Wis. Regional, No. 24 TLU rebounded from a 6-4 loss to Penn State-Harrisburg earlier Friday to give No. 10-ranked Adrian its first loss of the regional. Adrian, also the Bulldogs, opened the tournament Thursday with a 2-0 win over Salem State (Mass.).
Burch struck out seven, did not issue a walk, and needed just 96 pitches to defeat Adrian.
Burch improved to 7-1 and tossed his team-leading fourth complete-game of the season. His previous three complete games came in seven-inning, run-rule contests. Friday's gem against Adrian was Burch's first collegiate nine-inning complete game.
TLU moved its overall record to 29-13. Adrian fell to 33-8.
On Saturday, TLU will face a fellow school of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American (ELCA), Luther College out of Decorah, Iowa. The contest, set for a 5 p.m. start, will be an elimination game for both schools.
Luther staved off elimination earlier today with an 8-2 win over Salem State. With the departure of Salem State, the six-team regional is down to five teams.
Behind Burch, TLU won despite leaving 16 runners on base.
The Bulldogs led 4-0 after two innings. TLU scored three in the first and another in the second.
Austin Colon started the scoring with a single to right-center field to score Caleb Maly. Colon would come around to score on a throwing error.
Randy Huerta produced the third run of the first with a single up the middle to score Joe Jimenez.
Colon made it 4-0 with a single to right-center. Maly scored again.
Colon was 2-for-5 with a run scored and two RBI. Cullen Motsinger had four hits (4-for-6).
Maly scored twice and was 1-3. He walked three times.
