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PHOTO GALLERY

POSTGAME INTERVIEW WITH COLTON GOMMERT

Austin, Texas – Colton Gommert went 2-for-4 and drove in two runs and Scott Hays pitched eight scoreless frames to lead the ninth-ranked Concordia University Texas baseball team to a convincing 9-0 win over #20 Texas-Tyler in an American Southwest Conference Championship Series game on Friday, May 4 at Tornado Field. The hosts advanced to the winners bracket by recording a shutout in their opening game for the second straight year.

Concordia got the scoring going quickly in the bottom of the first. After Gommert hit an infield single to load the bases with two outs, Bieschke rocketed the ball through the left side to drive in Matt McManemin and Collin Janssen.

Texas-Tyler (33-11) threatened to get on the board in the fourth by loading the bases with nobody out. Scott Hays, however, got out of the jam by forcing Aaron McCain to ground into a double play and inducing a flyout to center.

After Hays got out of trouble, the Tornados broke the game open by plating six runs on two hits in the bottom of the fourth. Quinn Guest and Gommert unleashed two-run doubles up the middle and down the right field line, respectively, with two outs before Collin Janssen made it 8-0 by scoring from third on a passed ball. The Tornados capped the scoring when Brent Schaekel scored on a sacrifice fly by Guest in the sixth.

Scott Hays hurled eight shutout innings for Concordia and improved to 7-3 by picking up the victory. He yielded eight hits and struck out six while issuing three walks. Texas-Tyler's Jack Barkley, who entered the game undefeated with an ASC-best 10 wins, suffered the loss after being chased out of the game during the Tornados' six-run fourth inning. He allowed four hits and eight runs, including three earned, over 3.2 frames.

Concordia (34-9) will face Mississippi College in the winners bracket tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. after Texas-Tyler plays McMurry in an elimination game.

Notes: Concordia is serving as the host of the American Southwest Conference Championship Round, a double-elimination event, from May 4-6 … The winner, which is going to be crowned on Sunday, will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament … The baseball team is looking to become Concordia's third squad to win an American Southwest Conference title during the 2011-12 academic year after the women's cross country and women's basketball teams accomplished the feat in the fall and winter, respectively.
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#20 Texas-Tyler (33-11)     000     000     000     0     8     2
#9 Concordia (34-9)            200     601     00x     9     8     1
     Texas-Tyler: Jack Barkley, Konrad Koenig (4) and Hayden Chick.
     Concordia: Scott Hays, Sean Thompson (9) and Collin Janssen.