BB falls to Mississippi College in ASC Tournament

04/26/08

Clinton, MS- The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor could not overcome a sloppy fielding day and the solid pitching of Mississippi College ace Jonathan Russell as the Cru fell to the Choctaws 10-1 in an elimination game in an American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament First Round series. The loss ends UMHB's season at 28-12 overall. Mississippi College improves to 24-17 and advances to next weekend's ASC Championship Tournament Second Round.

The Choctaws took advantage of four UMHB errors to score nine unearned runs in the game. Brandon Turner's two-double in the top of the second made it 2-0 and David Bradshaw's solo homer stretched it to 3-0 in the top of the fifth inning. It would stay that way until MC scored three runs in the eighth. Brannon Walls singled home the first run and Turner added a two-run single to make it 6-0 Choctaws. MC then tacked on four more unearned runs in the top of the ninth. Jonathan Whitehead's solo home run in the bottom of the ninth was the only scoring for the Cru in the game.

Russell pitched a complete-game, five-hitter for the Choctaws to improve to 9-1 on the year. He struck out six and walked four. Jared Hopper took the loss for UMHB to fall to 3-4. Hopper scattered seven hits in seven and a third innings. He struck out one and walked three, while allowing just one earned run. Turner was 3-4 with five RBI for MC. Walls, Bradshaw and Paige Hodges added two hits apiece for the Choctaws. Five different UMHB players had one hit in the game.

The loss also closes out the UMHB careers for seven Cru seniors. Adam Froeschl, Steven Reinlie, Jonathan Whitehead, Earnest Pena, Brady Honeycutt, Les Sarles and Tanner Vaughan all saw their Cru careers end this weekend. UMHB won a share of the ASC West Division title for the first time in school history this season and the Cru also posted its highest single-season victory total since the 1996 season this year.