MASON, Ohio – Four straight wins in as many days translated to a perfect bracket for No. 1 seed Trevecca Nazarene to finish off a title run in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Baseball Championship tournament on Saturday afternoon at PRASCO Park.
The Trojans had all they could handle from No. 5 Tiffin as the Dragons cemented themselves as a championship series contender following a late-night win vs. Hillsdale on Friday.
Shortstop Trey Vanderpool highlighted a four-run seventh inning with a three-run homer to give the Trojans the lead and the bullpen locked things down to preserve a 7-6 victory.
RP Jay Benard was tasked with getting the final six outs and fittingly, his last out was a strikeout. His teammates came pouring out of the dugout and after receiving the championship trophy on the field, doused Great Midwest Coach of the Year Chase Sain with a water bath to celebrate the occasion.
Give Tiffin a lot of credit for taking a 6-3 lead in the sixth inning. For some time, it looked like the Dragons would force the 'if necessary' game. TU tacked on four runs in the top of the sixth inning, including a two-run double by Nich Green and a two-run blast by Tim Orr to opposite field left in back-to-back at-bats.
The scare for Tiffin came when first team all-conference performer Griffin Stevens was at the plate in a 1-2 count and fouled a ball off the plate that ricocheted and struck him in the right eye. He had to leave the game and all-conference starting pitcher Tyler Wehrle was put in a precarious position knowing his team was in a must-win situation.
Wehrle was working out of the stretch immediately after being called in to replace Francisco Olivarez. Pitching on just three days rest from starting Wednesday TU's tourney opener vs. No. 3 Kentucky Wesleyan, Wehrle loosened up in a hurry from the bullpen.
Vanderpool was sitting on a high fastball and in one swing, gave the Trojans the lead with a deep blast to near straightaway center field.
In the previous at-bat it was first team all-conference outfielder Braden Odom who chased a different reliever out of the game with an RBI double laced down the right-field line.
Earlier, Odom clobbered a two-run home run deep into the right field bleachers and robbed Stevens of extra bases by tracking down a hard-hit ball in the right center gap.
After the offense helped deliver the lead, it was Lee Cunningham tossing a scoreless seventh inning for the winning decision and first team all-conference reliever Benard digging a little more deep than usual to close out the title game by finishing out the eighth and ninth innings.
Trevecca clinched the conference automatic qualifying bid into the NCAA Championship Midwest Regional. It marked the fourth conference tournament title for the program and the first since 2015 when the Trojans had successfully three-peated from 2013-15.
TNU completed the regular season title and the tournament title, a very difficult accomplishment to achieve in the tournament setting.