Photo by Natalia Ahrens
O'Fallon, Mo. – The McPherson College baseball team continued their historic season with two more firsts on Monday. The Bulldogs, playing in their first NAIA Opening Round Tournament in program history, picked up their first national tournament win, defeating the Doane University Tigers 7-2. The win was the 37th on the season, a new program record for wins in a season.
The Bulldogs sent Tyler Norris to the mound for the start against the Tigers. He cruised through the first three innings, staked to a 2-0 lead that his offense provided in the bottom of the first inning. He ran into a bases loaded jam in the fourth inning, but got out of it, surrendering just one run. In the fifth, he got the first two outs of the inning, but the third batter of the inning lined a ball over the left center field fence to tie the game at 2, ending his day. Norris' final stat line was four and two-thirds innings pitched, two runs, five hits, five strikeouts, and two walks.
Zach Reynolds came on and mopped up the rest of the fifth inning. The Bulldogs retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth, so Reynolds ended up with the win. He worked an inning and a third, holding the Tigers scoreless on just three hits. The final three innings went to Jacob Gilcrease. He also kept the Tigers off the scoreboard, allowing just two hits, while striking out six and walking just one.
When the Bulldogs took the lead 3-2 in the fifth, they never relinquished it again. They scored two runs in the seventh, then added two more in the eighth to lead 7-2, which would end up being the final score. The two runs in the eighth came off back to back solo homeruns by Jake Pearson, and Noah Nelson. Both homeruns were no doubters that left the park in a hurry, and went a very long way.
Trevor Johnson, who broke out of a slump at the KCAC tournament just over a week ago, continued to see the ball well in the Opening Round game against the Tigers. He led the Bulldogs with a 3 for 5 performance and an RBI. Nelson, Pearson, and James Canar joined Johnson with multiple hits. Canar and Nelson were both 2 for 4 while Pearson was 2 for 3. Both Nelson and Pearson finished with 2 RBI each, and Canar had one.
"Day one of tournaments are always challenging," said Bulldog skipper Bryan Moses. "You're on a new field with a group who just got done traveling. But, the DOGS were able to get timely hits and we had three pitchers who battled their tails off. There is a ton of talent out here in O'Fallon right now. We'll see how we compete moving forward."
With the win, the Bulldogs stay on the winners' side of the double elimination bracket. They will try and stay that way as they take on the top seeded Central Methodist Eagles at 11:00 am on Tuesday morning. The game with the Eagles was originally supposed to take place on Monday evening, but rain on Monday morning pushed the tournament back a game.
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