MARSHALL, Texas – This past Saturday, a memorable season for McMurry University Baseball ended in the Blue Bracket Semifinal of the American Southwest Conference Championship postseason tournament. The War Hawks finished the tournament with a 1-2 record.
McMurry earned its first ASC postseason win since 2012 with an exciting 12th inning walk-off victory over LeTourneau on Saturday morning. Later that night, the War Hawks were eliminated by Mary Hardin-Baylor.
The War Hawks finish with a 24-18 record – their first winning season since 2015. Despite being picked last place (11th) in this year's preseason poll, the team also went 17-13 in regular season conference play to finish fourth in the standings.
In the LETU win Saturday morning, McMurry trailed 8-6 after two runs crossed in the top half of the 12th. A two-run bomb by Tommy Cardenas – the first of his career – tied the game back up and gave McMurry momentum.
With Koy Carpenter on second after being hit by a pitch and later moving over on a wild pitch, Blake Beach walked his way on base. This brought in a new pitcher for LETU to face senior Reed Hodges. Hodges hit a single through the right side, scoring a sliding Carpenter to win it and advance.
Early on, McMurry trailed 2-0 in what appeared to be a pitcher's duel between LETU's Jared Schurig and McMurry's Marty Carnahan. The War Hawks then got on the board in the fifth as Javier Rosa tripled then scored on a groundout by Carpenter.
Carnahan left the game with his team behind 3-1 in the sixth inning after completing a quality start with three runs and eight hits allowed and six strikeouts after 6.0 innings. His run support came later in the eighth, as McMurry rallied for five runs to take the lead.
Josh Dyer started the rally with an RBI double to bring home Hodges, then Dylan Lee flipped the lead as a pinch hitter, singling home Dyer and Nick Hamel. After Dylan Abbott was intentionally walked and Lee singled after him, the duo pulled off a double steal. Rosa filled first base after being hit by a pitch, which allowed Carpenter to walk home a run to make it 5-3. A passed ball scored another before the end of the frame.
LeTourneau kept its hopes alive with three runs in the ninth to tie it, and despite taking a lead with five unanswered runs over the final four innings, the War Hawks would be the victors and advance to the semifinal to face UMHB.
The Cru won the elimination game 10-0 to advance to the Blue Bracket Championship. East Texas Baptist won the first game Sunday with an extra innings walk-off and advanced to the Gold Bracket Championship.
Josh Dyer and Reed Hodges were named to the ASC All-Tournament team Sunday. Dyer had seven hits in the tournament, including a pair of three-hit games to open things up. He had a pair of homers in the opener against UMHB and two doubles in the last two games. He also drove home four runs.
Meanwhile, Hodges had the big hit of McMurry's postseason with hit walk-off single. He hit safely in all three tournament games to end his season with two outstanding streaks. He finished the year reaching base safely in all 34 appearances and on a 26-game hitting streak.
For more tournament information, click here.
