ASC Release on Baseball Playoffs
Saturday Game 1 Box (SRS 5 McM 3 [8]) | Game 2 Box (McM 6 SRS 5)
It wasn't exactly how the McMurry baseball team would have mapped it out, but come Friday, the team will be the No. 1 West Division seed in the American Southwest Conference playoffs. Sul Ross State gave McMurry all it could handle Saturday and the Lobos forced a split taking game one 5-3 on a walk-off homer and then McMurry held off a last-inning rally to win game two 6-5.
After a Friday loss to Sul Ross, McMurry needed two wins Saturday to win the regular season ASC West Championship outright. However, with a split, McMurry left the door open for ties and a possible No. 2 seed. After Hardin-Simmons, Concordia-Texas and Mary Hardin-Baylor swept its respective opponents over the weekend, it forced the first four-way tie for first place in the west in the conference's history.
McMurry, however, took the No. 1 seed after the tiebreaker policy states that the best overall record against the tying teams gets the nod. McMurry took two of three from Hardin-Simmons and Concordia and one of three from Mary Hardin-Baylor. With a 5-4 record against the other three teams, McMurry got the top seed because UMHB lost all three to Concordia, and took two from McMurry and two from HSU to give the Crusaders a 4-5 record against the other tied opponents.
Therefore, McMurry will host a best-of-three series against the No. 4 seed from the east division Friday-Sunday (if necessary). For the second-straight year, Louisiana College takes the No. 4 seed from the east and will come to Driggers Field Friday hoping to avoid elimination.
McMurry ousted the Wildcats in two games last year before going on to the double-elimination championship round and losing in the final game to Texas Lutheran. If McMurry is able to get past LC again, it will host the double-elimination tournament May 2-4.
Game Notes from Sul Ross Doubleheader Saturday
• Sul Ross took the series from McMurry for the first time since McMurry's first year of baseball in 1996
• McMurry gave up just 12 runs in three games against the Lobos and only eight were earned
• McMurry's offense combined for 10 runs in the three-game set ... It was the fewest number of total runs that the team has posted in an ASC West series this season with the next lowest mark coming when McMurry scored 20 runs in three games against Mary Hardin-Baylor ... The Crusaders took the series
• Both Clint Johnston and Cody Curry have surpassed the 70-strikeout mark on the mound for McMurry this season ... that hasn't been done since 2004 when current assistant coach Josh Lee struck out 71 ... Curry (74) and Johnston (73) trail only Jim Wollscheid for the single-season school record ... Wollscheid struck out 94 in the 1994 season ... Curry and Johnston already have the third and fourth best single-season strikeout seasons respectively with at least one more start apiece to go ... Wollscheid has the No. 1 and No. 2 best seasons with 94 in '99 and 85 in '98
• Derek David hit home runs No. 22 & 23 in the series with Sul Ross State ... He has 38 homers in his career through Saturday tying him for the second-best mark in American Southwest Conference history ... David's teammate Brent Voorhees is the ASC leader with 45 ... David tied former Concordia-Austin standout David White who had 38 home runs from 2001-2004 ... David has hit his 38 home runs in just three seasons
• David's 23 home runs so far in 2008 ties him for the 7th best single-season home run total in NCAA Division III history ... Tim Jorgensen (Wis.-Oshkosh, 1995) holds the NCAA Division III record with 39, however, after him the total drops to 25 leaving David two home runs shy of tying for the second-best total in NCAA Division III history
• David's 64 RBI through Saturday already surpasses his school record from 2007 for single-season RBI when he had 61 as a junior .... He is one RBI short of tying the ASC single-season record of 65 set by Brent Booze of Sul Ross State in 1998 ... He has 163 RBI so far in his three-year career, which is four shy of David White's (Concordia-Austin) mark of 167, which is second-best all-time in the ASC ... Voorhees is the career leader with 194 through Saturday ... If David hits one more home run and drives in five runs, Voorhees and David will leave as the No. 1 and No. 2 ASC leaders in both home runs and RBI respectively
• Sul Ross' Javier Arietta hit a walk-off home run to defeat McMurry 5-3 in the first game Saturday in extra innings ... Then after a 6-2 McMurry lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning in the series finale, McM's George Whitten relayed a throw to Nathan Love who tossed home to catcher Jeff Jackson and gunned down the Lobos' Zach Denson at the plate to end the game .... Denson's run would have tied the score at 6-6
• McMurry finished the regular season with a 24-16 overall record and finished 14-7 in the ASC West Division for the third-straight year
• Friday, McMurry will be making its fifth-straight appearance in the ASC playoffs
• The four-way tie for first place gives McMurry its third ASC West title and the first since 2004
