SHAWNEE, Okla. – The 2016 season came to an end for the McMurry University baseball team, after a ninth-inning rally by Dallas Christian College resulted in a 7-4 loss in the elimination round of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) Central Region tournament at Bison Field.
 
The War Hawks finished the season with a 21-22 mark.
 
McMurry held a 4-2 lead heading into the final inning of play, thanks to a sacrifice fly by relief pitcher Ricky Lopez in the bottom of the eighth. It was Lopez's only plate appearance in his two-year career as a War Hawk.
 
But Lopez's (2-3) joy of giving his team an insurance run was short-lived as the Crusaders came up for their final at-bats in the top of the ninth. DCC pushed across five runs, all charged to the McM senior. Lopez allowed two doubles, a single and two walks (one intentional), but was not helped by the War Hawks' defense with an error and a passed ball.
 
With the score 7-4, Lopez was lifted and fellow senior Mike Hoffman restored order by recording the final two outs. McM tried to claw its way back after Patrick Adams and Robert White slapped back-to-back one-out singles. Unfortunately, the War Hawks would fail to produce any more hits.
 
McMurry had gone ahead 2-0 in the third. Adams led off with a single and White laid down a sacrifice bunt, with both runners safe on the play. Adams scored and White moved to second on an error by DCC's firstbaseman. White moved to third on a Kevin Garza ground out and scored on Noah Clarkson's sacrifice fly to right.
 
Both teams scored single runs in their respective at-bats in the fifth and eighth innings, making the score 4-2 heading into the final frame. A solo home run by Ty Kirk in the fifth and Lopez's sacrifice fly accounted for those War Hawks' runs.
 
Garza (2-5), Kirk (2-3) and Adams (2-4) each had multiple hits and accounted for six of McM's nine hits as a team.