CEDARVILLE, Ohio - The Trevecca Nazarene University baseball team (27-18, 8-5) defeated Cedarville University (21-12, 6-5) and completed a doubleheader sweep on Saturday, to take three of four conference weekend games, giving the Trojans the regular-season championship crown.
TNU, which has found the win column in nine of their last 11 games, will host the 2013 G-MAC Baseball Tournament starting on May 6, 2013 at Jackson Field on the campus of Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee.
The TNU athletic program, which will also host the softball championship as its top seed, is in line to capture its sixth G-MAC title this year. Baseball could join the women's soccer, women's basketball, women's golf, men's golf, and softball teams as champions of their sport in the inaugural season of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. The championships would also put TNU in line to caputre the inaugural G-MAC Presidents' Cup.
After splitting two games on Friday, and winning game one Saturday the regular season came down to one game. The winner of game two on Saturday would capture the regular season title, the right to host the 2013 G-MAC Baseball Championship, and earn the top seed of the double-elimination tournament.
GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS (courtesy of @TNUsports):
Trevecca's Austin Huibers and Cedarville's Ryan Ledbetter were the story of the title game early on. There were just three hits allowed through the first five innings.
Ledbetter struck out four TNU batters while Huibers fanned seven. The Yellow Jackets had an opportunity to take the first lead of the game in the bottom of the fifth when they got two runners on base with just one out. The threat would be eliminated though by the left-handed Huibers who struck out Chris Ward and Logan Kasabian.
The Trojans would break the 0-0 tie in the sixth. After Nick Howell was walked and later stole second, Mark Rayburn would single through the right side scoring Howell giving TNU a 1-0 advantage.
Cedarville would threaten again in the home half of the sixth. With Tyler Hurt and David Lenhardt on base, a wild pitch from Huibers would move those two into scoring position. The Yellow Jackets wouldn't be able to do anything with the opportunity as Steve Cardwell grounded out and Zack Huskey struck out looking.
After a Cameron Boyett RBI single pushed TNU's lead to 2-0 in the seventh, Trevecca would explode in the eighth with three more runs.
With two outs, Hunter Newman, Blake Rogers and Corey Crunk each would connect with run-scoring hits increasing the Trojans' lead to 5-0. Bryan Smith entered in the eighth on the mound for Trevecca and would close out the game retiring all six Cedarville batters including three strikeouts.
Huibers (3-3) picked up the win for TNU tossing seven innings, allowing just one hit, fanning eight and issuing seven walks. Rayburn, Foreman and Rogers each collected multiple hits for the Trojans.
Trevecca will focus its efforts next on the G-MAC Baseball Championship set to start May 6 in Nashville. Trevecca will also host the 2013 NCCAA Mid-East Regional immediately following the G-MAC Championships. The NCCAA Mid-East Regional will also take place at Jackson Field.