The North Carolina Wesleyan University baseball team forced the "if necessary” game with Christopher Newport by defeating the Captains 6-1 in game one of the Newport News Regional Championship in the NCAA Division III Tournament on Sunday afternoon in Newport News, Virginia.
Game Two is set for 11 a.m. on Monday at Captains Park. The winner of Monday’s winner-takes-all game advances to the Super Regionals next week.
The victory was the Bishops’ second win of the day on Sunday, as they ousted Immaculata 4-0 in an elimination game on Sunday morning.
Wesleyan (36-12), the No. 3 seed, opened the double-elimination tournament with a 6-0 victory over No. 2 seed Scranton in its first game on Friday.
Cord Butler (12-0) was stellar on the mound for the Bishops, as he allowed just three hits and no runs with 13 strikeouts and just two walks in a complete-game effort.
Davie Morgan’s sacrifice fly plated Tyson Bass for a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Jackson Hobbs added a two-run double in the third and later scored on a double by Alex Moskal to make it 4-0.
A sacrifice fly from Blake Scott brought home Bass in the fifth frame and Morgan scored on a sacrifice fly by Colin Scoggins in the eighth to complete the Bishops scoring.
Bass, Hobbs and Moskal paced Wesleyan with two hits each.
The Bishops then lost 7-2 on Saturday to No. 1 seed Christopher Newport, sending Wesleyan to the elimination bracket.
Wesleyan scored its only two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning on an RBI single by Morgan and a throwing error on a failed pickoff attempt.
Chandler Padgett (7-2) suffered the loss on the mound as he worked 5.2 innings and allowed four hits and four runs (three earned) with five strikeouts and three walks. Dylan Cheeley gave up five hits and three earned runs with five walks and three strikeouts in 3.1 innings of relief.
Hobbs and Morgan led the Bishops with two hits each.
Facing elimination, Wesleyan took a 1-0 lead on Immaculata (27-18) on a solo home run by Jaiden Barker in the top of the fourth inning. Barker then doubled home Javier Quintana and Tyson Bass in the eighth inning, and an RBI single from Drifton Padgett in the ninth plated Scoggins with the final run.
Andrew Tubb (6-1) was outstanding on the mound for the Bishops. He pitched a complete-game shutout with three strikeouts and just one walk over 106 pitches.
Wesleyan took a 1-0 lead over CNU in the top of the fourth inning of Sunday’s game on an RBI single from Scoggins. The Bishops added three more runs in the top of the sixth on an RBI single from Drifton Padgett, a sacrifice fly from Seth Jones and an error which brought in Javier Quintana.
Wesleyan extended its advantage in the top of the ninth inning with an RBI single from Quintana and a bases-loaded walk to Scoggins.
CNU (28-10) scored its lone run in the bottom half of the ninth on an RBI single from Zach Zdarnowski.
Preston Workman started on the mound for NCWU and worked 4.1 innings, allowing seven hits. Marc Dennunzio added 3.2 frames in relief and surrendered no hits and Cullen Davis closed it out in the ninth.
Quintana led the Bishops with three hits while Scoggins added two.
The teams combined for 25 runners left on base (CNU 14, NCWU 11). The Captains made six errors to none for the Bishops.
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