AUSTIN, Texas – The Concordia Texas baseball team exploded for a seven-run seventh inning, highlighted by a two-RBI double from
Grayson Lee, and the Tornados took the final game of the three-game set on Saturday with McMurry 15-6 to secure the series win.
The Tornados took an early lead in the first inning, plating a pair of runs thanks to back-to-back RBI hits from Lee and
Shawn Huber. After the first frame, CTX held a 2-0 lead.
McMurry answered in the third inning, pushing across four runs on four hits and taking advantage of a CTX error. With this offensive outburst, the War Hawks took a 4-2 lead.
In the fifth inning,
Ryan Clouse led off with a single to centerfield and advanced to second on a wild pitch before an infield single from
Casen Novak moved him to third. Next,
Bret Leiferman delivered a sacrifice fly to cut down the McMurry lead to 4-3.
The War Hawks answered in the following frame, scoring a pair of runs thanks to an RBI single and an error from the Tornados. Heading into the bottom of the sixth, the Tornados trailed 6-3.
The Tornados scratched one run across in the bottom half of the inning after Huber led off with a walk and completed his trip around the bases by scoring on a wild pitch, bringing the score to 6-4.
The seventh inning was huge for the Tornados, plating seven runs and taking an 11-6 lead. Leiferman drove in the first run of the frame with an RBI base knock, followed by an RBI single off the bat of
Brandon Goynes. This set the table for a two-RBI double from Lee, who later scored when
Riley Becker executed a perfect sacrifice squeeze. Huber later scored on a throwing error by McMurry, and
Chris Varljen capped off the big inning by scoring on a balk.
The Tornados tacked four more runs onto their lead in the eighth, starting with a sacrifice fly off the bat of Lee that brought Novak home. Next, McMurry committed a two-out error with the bases loaded, which allowed three runs to cross the plate. Heading into the final frame, CTX extended their lead to 15-6.
Otto Franz was credited with the win on the mound, throwing the final three frames and suffering no runs on one hit. He allowed his one hit in the final inning, but he retired the next three McM hitters in order and the Tornados took the series with a 15-6 win in the rubber match.
The Tornados advanced to 11-7, 9-6 ASC with the pair of wins this weekend.
Concordia Texas will be back on the diamond Tuesday, squaring off with Trinity in a non-conference matchup at home at Tornado Field in Austin, Texas at 6:30 p.m.
