May 1st, 2009
Box Score
Photo Gallery
(Photo of Drew Farr and Assistant Coach Ryan Hindt (9) by Chris Brooks - courtesy of Mississippi College)
CLINTON, Miss. – The University of Texas at Tyler rallied for three runs in the top of the ninth inning to stun Texas Lutheran 7-6 in championship round game one of the American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament Series.
Friday afternoon at Mississippi College’s Frierson Field, UT-Tyler’s Kendall Fox, Jeremy Harding and Chris Tucker each drove in runs for the Patriots in the ninth.
Fox drove home Austin Newell with an RBI groundout. Harding doubled to center field to tie the game at 6-6, and Tucker singled through the left side to score Harding for the eventual game-winning run.
TLU starting pitcher Brad Orosey pitched into the ninth inning, but he departed after a lead-off double by Newell. Bulldog closer Tom Hembree (2-1) took the loss by allowing two earned runs on two hits.
Tommy Rozell (5-2) picked up the win for the Patriots. Rozell tossed two shutout innings and allowed just two hits. He coaxed the Bulldogs into a game-ending double play in the bottom of the ninth.
UT-Tyler (35-9) advances in the winner’s bracket to face host Mississippi College, a 10-0 winner Friday night over the University of Texas at Dallas (27-16). The winner’s bracket game starts at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
TLU (30-13) will meet UT-Dallas at noon Saturday. Seguin radio station KWED 1580 AM will have a live radio broadcast and a live webcast from www.seguintoday.com. Pre-game coverage will start at 11:50 a.m.
UT-Tyler, the 12th-ranked team in NCAA Division III, overcame six fielding errors against TLU. Four of the runs scored against UT-Tyler starter Brett Holland were unearned. Holland went seven innings and allowed only two earned runs. He struck out six and walked two.
With the help of the errors, TLU led 4-1 after three innings and 5-1 after four. UT-Tyler cut the Bulldogs lead down to 5-4 in the top of the sixth with a two-run home run from Brock Lemire.
The Bulldogs pushed the lead back to two, at 6-4, with a solo home run from Clay Childress in the bottom of the sixth. The scored remained 6-4 until the Patriots’ rally in the ninth.
UT-Tyler shortstop Chad Daleiden had four hits for the Patriots, and teammate Joe Towns was 2-for-2.
The Bulldogs received two hits and an RBI from Jeremy Macklin. TLU also picked up RBI from Andrew Femath, Ryan Nokelby, Cody Miller and Childress. Chris Green scored twice for TLU.
The loss to UT-Tyler snapped TLU’s string of three consecutive opening-game wins in the championship round of the conference tournament.