CMS Baseball Drops NCAA Opener, Faces Centenary Tomorrow Morning

MARSHALL, Texas - Tyler Shaw was 3-for-4 with two RBI as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps baseball team cut an 11-0 deficit down to 11-7, but Concordia (Texas) was able to hang on for a 13-7 win on Friday in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Regionals held at East Texas Baptist.

CMS falls to 30-14 and will next play at 11 a.m. tomorrow (local time) in an elimination game against Centenary (La.), which fell 5-2 to host East Texas Baptist in the first opening round game. The CMS-Centenary winner will advance through to play another game at 6 p.m. against the loser between East Texas Baptist and Concordia.

The Tornadoes pushed across four runs in the third, and then seemingly put it out of reach with a seven-run fifth, capped by a grand slam from Colby Christian. 

The Stags battled back, though, and scored four times in the bottom half. Rider Gordon had an RBI single to score Jack Potter, and Blaise Heher followed with an RBI single to plate Adam Dapkewicz. Shaw then doubled down the line in left field to plate two runners and make it an 11-4 contest. 

CMS got even closer in the seventh with three more runs, as Julian Sanders had an RBI double to plate Heher, and Dillon Martin hit a sacrifice fly to deep left that brought home Shaw. Potter capped off the inning with a single to right to send Sanders home and get CMS within just four runs. 

Henry Connell pitched his third straight scoreless inning in the eighth, but the Stags were unable to push any runs across in the bottom half, due in part to an inning-ending diving catch from Zach Siegrist in center off a line drive from Heher. Christian then effectively sealed it with a two-run shot in the ninth with two outs, giving him seven RBI on the day. 

Potter (2-for-4) and Sanders (2-for-5) joined Shaw in having multi-hit games, while Heher was 1-for-3 with two runs scored and a walk, while being robbed of a hit in his final at-bat. 

The Stags were playing in their first NCAA Tournament game since the 1996 team went the full five games against Cal Lutheran in a regional. CMS matched a program record with 30 wins during the SCIAC Tournament, and will have another chance to break it tomorrow against Centenary at 11 a.m. (9 a.m. Pacific).