We lost one more very worthy team, and sent another on to the final four on Tuesday, as Franklin Pierce was eliminated in an elimination game and Nova Southeastern continued their tournament with a shelling of Lander to move on to Thursday's action.
Game Seven
Central Missouri - 6
Franklin Pierce - 0
W: Westphal (11-2); L: Amendola (7-2); S: Ross (1)
Box Score
The one benefit to UCM falling on day one was that they didn't need to throw their ace in the game, and that paid off in some big dividends on Tuesday. Ethan Westphal took the mound for the Mules and continued his dominant season with seven shutout innings and only five hits allowed.
While Westphal was rolling, his offense was doing much of the same. In the bottom of the second, UCM got the scoring started with a Bennett Oliver lead-off double, a sacrifice bunt, and a sacrifice fly.
In the bottom of the fourth, it was much the same story, as Oliver again was the runner scoring on a sacrifice fly to make it a 2-0 game.
The Mules pushed one more across in the bottom of the seventh on a bases loaded walk and then blew the game open with three runs in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI single by Cole Distler and a two-RBI double by Jackson Schnurbusch to make it 6-0.
Westphal, who didn't allow a hit through 4.1 innings and went seven shutout innings in total, gave way to Tayler Ross for the final two frames, who allowed only one hit in his time on the mound, needing only 18 pitches to finish off the contest and move the Mules on in the tournament.
Game Eight
Nova Southeastern - 12
Lander - 1
W: Kline (4-1); L: Jones (10-3)
Box Score
Luckily for the fans of Division II baseball, the vast majority of the national finals games so far have been very competitive contests. It wasn't going to last forever, obviously, and it seemed like that line was drawn on Tuesday night as the NSU hit parade circled the bases at a staggering rate in this winner's bracket game.
Lander actually took an early lead on the second home run of the tournament from Zach Daly, a solo shot in the bottom of the first inning. After a scoreless second and third frames, the flood gates opened for NSU with a four-run top of the fourth inning. A lead-off double and an ensuing single put two on, and a sacrifice bunt from the next batter was muffed and the bases were loaded with nobody out. After an out, Kavan Thompson came to the plate and put NSU out front with a two-RBI single, and another run scored in the next at-bat courtesy of another error. Dylan Woods ended the scoring in the frame with an RBI ground out to make it 4-1.
In the fifth, it was a two-out rally that continued the scoring for the Sharks, as Daniel Zardon hit the first non-Lander home run of the tournament, a two-run shot to left field to push the lead to 6-1.
The damage finally concluded in the top of the sixth inning, where NSU had the first seven batters of the inning reach on base hits. The inning was highlighted by a Woods two-RBI single, an Alex Visbal RBI single, and a Brandon Gomez two-RBI single. When all was said and done, it was a 12-1 game and both teams were just hoping to make it out of the game with nobody getting hurt.
Throwing 104 pitches in only his fourth start of the year, Alexander Kline threw six very strong innings, allowing only three hits and one run with eight strikeouts. The offense had a bevy of great performances, including Gomez going 4-for-5 with two runs and two RBI, Thompson going 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBI, and Woods going 2-for-4 with a run scored and three RBI in the contest.
Unfortunately, Wednesday brings to us the first day where we'll have multiple teams leaving us. Both games on Wednesday are elimination games.
Game Nine
Cal Poly Pomona (41-18) vs Central Missouri (43-14)
Wednesday, June 1st, 11:00 a.m. Eastern
Live Stats
Live Video
This statement applies to both games on Wednesday, but it really is a shame that two very good teams will be leaving the tournament by the end of the day. All four teams playing are capable of winning the title, and it wouldn't surprise me if any of the teams playing on Wednesday actually do go out and do that.
With that said, we have an interesting match-up here with both teams down to their latter-half of starting pitchers. CPP still has Tyler Rowe (4-1, 4.20 ERA) or Peter Bayer (1-2, 4.99 ERA) to roll out, while I'm sure UCM will be countering with Carlos D'Armas (5-2, 3.58 ERA), who will clearly hold the advantage in terms of numbers. This game is another one that just screams well-played baseball, and I think you'll see some high caliber Division II baseball in this game throughout.
Game Ten
Lander (43-15) vs Southern Indiana (38-20)
Wednesday, June 1st, 3:00 p.m. Eastern
Live Stats
Live Video
We have a very contrasting look of teams in this one, as Lander's power will be going up against USI's do-everything-well baseball. Lander will have either JD Waite (5-2, 4.09 ERA) or Colton Rogers (7-2, 5.12 ERA) on the mound, while USI will most likely have Austin Krizan (4-1, 3.66 ERA) at their disposal. There isn't a lot separating these two squads...it is just a matter of whether or not Lander's power finds its way back or if USI small-balls them and uses their experience at the national finals to their advantage to move on.
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