2016 G-MAC Baseball Championship Page
MASON, Ohio – Friday the 13th at PRASCO Park produced some strangely similar outcomes as the stage was set for the final of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Baseball Championship on Friday.
A pair of identical 10-8 finals in the seventh and eighth games of the tournament followed by a 7-2 score in the nightcap ultimately set the stage for Saturday’s anticipated showdown between No. 3 Alderson Broaddus and No. 1 Trevecca Nazarene.
In the marquee matchup of tournament unbeatens, the Battlers of AB saw a 7-1 lead disappear in the latters stages as the Trojans muscled three home runs in the eighth inning to take an improbable 8-7 lead.
But Alderson Broaddus answered with three runs in the top of the ninth and held on to send TNU to a rare postseason defeat.
The Trojans were undaunted by the long road into the final, winning their second game of the day against No. 2 Kentucky Wesleyan to eliminate the Panthers in Game 9. KWC advanced to Game 9 with a win against last year’s tournament runner-up Ohio Valley.
For Trevecca Nazarene to hold up their fourth consecutive conference championship trophy, the Trojans will need to beat Alderson Broaddus twice on Saturday.
For Alderson Broaddus, the Battlers are just one win away from conference tournament glory and the league’s first automatic qualification into the NCAA Championship Midwest Regional pod.
AB has now beaten the No. 2 and No. 1 seeds in the bracket in successive games. Contributions up and down the lineup have been noticeable and Trent Shaw redeemed himself at the plate after laboring through the previous inning on the mound.
Saturday’s championship game is scheduled for noon EST at Prasco Park. If necessary, another game would be played between the two teams approximately a half hour later.
With TNU playing its fifth game in four days and AB playing its fourth game in as many days, questions linger about pitching probables if the rotations are really cashed out during their deep tournament runs.
AB has thrown Randy Dobnak, Tyler Stage, Chris Boatto twice in relief and most recently, Zach Thompson. TNU has utilized Jesse Peters, Bryan Smith, Ivey Starling and John Bolton in the tourney.
The coaching staffs have a strategy and should the tournament extend into an 11th and decisive game, it should be a fun ride until the end.
G-MAC Championship coverage continues with live video streaming and live stats tomorrow on G-MACSports.com.
Moments That Mattered
Two-out RBI seemed to be a common theme in a high-scoring back-and-forth affair between Alderson Broaddus and Trevecca Nazarene.
All seven of TNU’s runs in the eighth inning came with two outs – all on home runs by Bryson Shelton, Ryan Arington and Micah Blount. Arington’s three-run blast, his first of the year, cut the AB lead down to 7-5. Blount’s three-run shot to deep left field vaulted TNU in front, 8-7.
The Battlers scored there runs in the top of the fourth and seventh innings -- all with two outs in the frame.
Cody Bridges followed a Jeremy Cline RBI double with a run-scoring triple to give Kentucky Wesleyan a permanent lead in the top of the eighth inning.
Starring Roles
Micah Blount (TNU) and Adam Brown (KWC) both drilled a pair of homers in each game for their respective teams.
Brown left the yard both at Prasco Park and at Legacy Field while Blount drilled a three-run shot and hit a solo blast in the nightcap.
TNU’s Ryan Arington homered and tripled as part of a five RBI day. The other part of the Trojans’ left side of the infield did plenty of damage as well with Griffin Ganick’s combined 5-for-8 effort at the plate.
Andrew Morales of Ohio Valley hit a game-tying RBI and ripped a two-run go-ahead double for the Fighting Scots.