Final G-MAC Baseball Championship Bracket
Box Score
MASON, Ohio - Zach Tompkins homered and drove in three while John Bolton pitched five strong innings as Trevecca Nazarene was crowned the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Championship baseball champions on Saturday.
The top-seeded Trojans completed an undefeated league postseason run for the third straight year, this time against No. 5 Ohio Valley by a final score of 19-2 in a shortened seven innings.
TNU pounded out 19 runs on 15 hits as six different starters recorded two hits or better. The Trojans batted around the lineup nearly two full cycles in the top of the first inning and 11 runs crossed the plate to get the hit parade off and running.
After winning G-MAC baseball titles in 2013 and 2014, the Trojans rose to the occasion yet again while embracing head coach Ryan Schmalz’ mantra of ‘sticking to the process’.
Trevecca Nazarene (36-18 overall) now waits for NCAA Selection Sunday to see if it will earn a bid for the NCAA Div. II Championship regional (like the Trojans’ softball program) as an at-large qualifier.
TNU is currently ranked seventh in the Midwest Region.
Ohio Valley played the spoiler for several teams in the postseason bracket and finished the season with a 16-30 overall record as the G-MAC runner-up.
G-MAC Player of the Year Hunter Newman, Bryson Shelton, Clayton Nichols and Tompkins each had three RBI, respectively.
Tyler Tichenor doubled to get the game started and singled in two runs in the first inning alone. The Trevecca Nazarene offense chased OVU lefty starter Dakota Taylor out after he was able to record one out.
TNU was also able to draw three bases-loaded walks in the first inning while Shelton and Nichols drove in runs in their first plate appearances.
The Fighting Scots answered in their first series of at-bats, scoring a pair of runs on a Tyler Proctor RBI double and a grounder through the left side of the infield by Logan Dan.
Proctor would finish 2-for-3 with a run and RBI at the dish for OVU, completing an impressive conference tournament showing by the Fighting Scots’ third baseman.
The Trojans tacked on three more runs in the fifth as Micah Blount singled home a run and Nichols drove in two with another single. Newman doubled and recorded a pair of RBI by drawing bases-loaded walks.
Bolton fanned six batters while yielding two runs on six hits and finished off his fifth winning decision with four consecutive scoreless innings. Righties Mason Dunn and Ryan Arington cleaned up with scoreless sixth and seventh frames in relief.
When the final out was recorded by Arington in the bottom of the seventh, the celebration ensued as TNU’s players dogpiled near the pitcher’s mound and doused each other with water bottles in elation.