AUSTIN, Texas – No. 2 seed LeTourneau knocked off the top-seeded Concordia University Texas baseball team, 6-4, on Saturday at Tornado Field, to claim the American Southwest Conference Tournament championship and the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
The Tornados (31-14) will have to wait until Sunday night to see if they received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The YellowJackets (32-13) clinched the program's first-ever bid to the postseason with Sunday's victory.
LeTourneau built a 6-0 lead after scoring three runs in the third inning, two in the fourth and another in the fifth.
Concordia Texas tallied three runs in the seventh to cut the lead in half.
Brent Schaekel drove in a pair on a single and
Brandon Hollier followed with an RBI single during the the three-run seventh.
In the eighth inning, CTX received back-to-back doubles from
Kyle Rodriguez and
Trevor Harlos to pull within two runs. However, Cody Whitley ended the threat by stranding a runner at second before pitching a scoreless ninth.
Curt Copeland (8-2), who was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, hurled 6.2 innings, scattering seven hits and allowing three runs to pick up the victory.
Whitley, who also was named to the all-tournament team, earned his first save of the season.
The Tornados out-hit the YellowJackets, 10-9. Schaekel paced Concordia with a 4-for-5 performance that included a double and two RBIs. Rodriguez was 2-for-4 with a double.
Five Tornados were named to the all-tournament squad – Rodriguez, Schaekel,
Estevan Hernandez,
Corey Holmes and
Scott Weinschenk.
The NCAA Tournament bracket will be announce through a press release on NCAA.com at 11 p.m. Concordia has appeared in three NCAA Tournaments, including two under head coach
Tommy Boggs (2011 and '12).