ROUND ROCK, Texas -- The 20th-ranked Concordia (Texas) Tornados gave up a four run lead in the last two innings but rebounded with four runs in the top of the 10th to take an 11-7 victory over the McMurry War Hawks in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Baseball Tournament elimination game Sunday afternoon at Dell Diamond.Official Website l Tournament Stats l Photo Gallery
Trailing 7-4 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, McMurry's Riley Hood single scored one run before SCAC Player-of-the-Year Michael Smosna, down to his last strike, banged out a bases loaded single to centerfield to score two more and tie the game at 7-7.
Concordia answered the following inning with four runs, highlighted by an RBI single from Eric Garcia and a two-run double from Logan Smith, to regain the lead and the eventual 11-7 victory.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- McMurry continued its tournament trend of a hot start, scoring three times in the bottom of the first, to take a 3-0 lead. Hood and Collin Bruning had had RBI singles and Nolan Scherencel had an RBI groundout to account for the runs.
- Concordia responded with two runs in the top of the second as Smith's two-run single tighted the game to 3-2.
- The Tornados scored three more in the fourth and two more in the seventh to take a commanding 7-3 lead. Concordia's Carson Riley had an RBI in the fourth and an RBI double in the seventh as part of both rallies.
- McMurry's Scherencel singled home a run in the eighth before the aforementioned ninth-inning dramatics forced extra innings.
CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY (TEXAS) STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
- Logan Smith: 4-5, 2 2Bs, 2 runs, 5 RBI
- Eric Garcia: 2-4, 3 runs, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SB
- Matthew Armes: 3-5, 3 runs, 1 BB, 1 SB
- Carson Riley: 2-6, 1 2B, 1 run, 2 RBI, 1 SB
- Rowdy Hoadley: 7.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 9 K, 3 BB
- Jake Runnells (WP): 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 K, 1 BB
MCMURRY UNIVERSITY STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
- Riley Hood: 3-5, 3 runs, 2 RBI
- Collin Bruning: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI
- Michael Smosna: 1-5, 2 RBI
- Bryson Morrill (LP): 2.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 K
NOTABLES
- In their three tournament games, McMurry scored 12 of their 23 runs in the first two innings.
- Logan Smith's five RBI are tied for the fourth-most in a SCAC tournament game.
- Concordia's second victory over McMurry marks the sixth straight championship a team has beaten the same team twice in the same tournament, but this is the first time its happened over that stretch where it didn't involve at least one of those games occuring in the championship round. The last time this occured in a non-championship round game was in 2014 when Texas Lutheran defeated Centenary in Game 2 and Game 5 - the same games involving Concordia and McMurry at this year's event.
- This marks just the second tournament in league history to have two extra inning games, joining the 2003 event.
UP NEXT
Concordia (33-10) advances to play Trinity in tonight's first championship round as the Tornados will need a victory tonight to force an 'if necessary' game tomorrow for a chance for the tournament title. McMurry (32-11) will await news of a potential at-large NCAA berth when bids are announced a week from Monday.
