The Mules baseball team finished the season 39-17 after the No. 1 seed Southern Arkansas Muleriders defeated Central 11-6 on May 20 in Magnolia, Arkansas.
“For the better part of two and a half games, we did exactly what we set out to do and we made some mistakes and we made some mistakes in a hurry and it was hard to regain our footing after that,” said UCM assistant coach Damian Stambersky.
UCM opened the tournament with a 10-2 win over Oklahoma Baptist. This was the Mules 100^th postseason win, according to UCM Athletics.
Colin Nevil got the Mules on the board with an opposite field solo home run to lead off the bottom of the second inning.
Luke Lucas pitched nine innings, giving up two runs on five hits with seven strikeouts and one walk on 113 pitches.
Travis Able drove in three runs and went 3-5 with three singles. Erik Webb scored three of the Mules 10 runs and reached base three times with two hits and a walk. Colin Nevil went 1-4 with a home run and drove in two runs. Mason Janvrin and Zak Whalin collected two hits and two runs apiece.
In game two, The Mules shut out St. Cloud State 15-0. This was the second time in four games the Mules recorded a 15-0 shout out, doing so against Central Oklahoma in the MIAA Tournament.
Colin Nevil popped his second homer of the tournament in the second inning while also finishing 3-5 with a game high four RBI. Harrison Schnurbusch and Mason Janvrin each collected three hits with Schnurbusch scoring three times and driving in two while Janvrin had an RBI and two runs scored. Travis Able also reached base three times with two hits and a walk while also scoring and driving in a run.
Erik Webb and Justin Graff-Rowe each knocked two hits apiece and scored two with one RBI. On the mound, Ben Kelsch threw six shutout innings, giving up six hits with five strikeouts. Evan Rathburn finished the final three innings and allowed a hit and two walks while also striking out five.
UCM dropped game three 9-6 to Augustana on Saturday, May 19. Augustana was able to get on the board first as a runner reached on a Mules throwing error. The Mules tied the game in the second as Schnurbusch pulled a double to left, scoring Gaff-Rowe who reached on a hit by pitch. After two scoreless innings, the first three batters all reached for the Mules in the seventh with Graff-Rowe providing a 4-3 lead with a two-RBI single up the middle.
The Mules got two more unearned runs in the inning, first on a throwing error on a bunt from Schnurbusch and the second on Whalin’s infield hit.
Brandon Reid tossed the first six innings and gave up three unearned runs. He also allowed three hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Schnurbusch went 2-3 with a double, RBI and scored. Whalin collected two hits and also reached base four times with two hits, including a double, two walks and picked up an RBI. Lastly, Graff-Rowe led UCM with two RBI. He was 1-3 and scored twice.
In game four, the Mules fell 11-6 against Southern Arkansas University.
Southern Arkansas put the Mules in a hole early, scoring seven runs in the second inning.
UCM got the leadoff runner on in each of the first three innings. In the third, both Whalin and Janvrin reached base to start the frame, but three straight outs kept the Mules off the scoreboard. SAU kept scoring and led 11-3 in the sixth.
“Obviously, we would have liked to win and move on to the world series,” Nevil said. “But I feel we did well and we finished in the top three and even though it didn’t go as well as we wanted, I feel we still accomplished a lot this season.”
Nevil ended his career with a bang following Able’s single with a long home run to center field to cap the scoring for the Mules.
Janvrin finished 4-5 with a run-scored. Nevil picked up three hits in five at bats with four RBI. Able knocked three hits, finishing 3-4 with two runs and an RBI. Collin Jones started on the mound but couldn’t make it out of the seven-run seventh.