ST. CLOUD, Minn. (May 19, 2016) -- Tyler House tossed seven shutout innings and the ninth-ranked Mules squeezed out three runs to beat SW Oklahoma State 3-1 in the NCAA-II Central Regional opener on Thursday morning at Joe Faber Field.
House (7-2) got off to a great start, registering three strikeouts with a two-out single in the top of the first. The Mules (39-13) jumped on the Bulldogs in the first. After
Matt Elliott drew a leadoff walk,
Dylan Farrell reached on an error by the third baseman while trying to bunt.
Bennett Oliver's single loaded the bases with one out and
Derek Cornell hit a ball to second, but the throw to second sailed high and in to left field allowing two runs to score. UCM had runners at second and third with only one out, but Jon Chidester (8-6) recorded a pair of strikeouts to prevent any further damage.
SWOSU (33-16) put a pair of runners on with two outs in the second, but House recorded another strikeout to halt the threat. The punchout in the second started a string of 16 straight Bulldogs set down by House. By the time the leadoff batter singled in the eighth the Mules were in front 3-0, scoring another run in the fifth.
Blake Wilfong walked, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout to first by Elliott. Wilfong kept running from second and took advantage of a close play at first to catch SWOSU off guard and score the third run for UCM.
The Bulldogs got a leadoff single in the eighth to snap House's consecutive batters set down streak and send the Mules to the bullpen.
Lucas Williams came out of the pen to record a flyout and an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
SW Oklahoma State got on the board in the ninth with a two-out run-scoring single by Jacob Spring to make it 3-1. SWOSU brough the potential tying run to the plate, but Zach Barton popped up on the infield and the Mules registered the win to advance to the winner's bracket.
UCM was held to just two hits in the game, but took advantage of three SWOSU errors in the win. House picked up the win and Williams recorded his fourth save of the season. House struck out six and didn't walk a batter. Chidester took the loss for SWOSU tossing eight solid innings, allowing three runs with only one earned on two hits.
With the win, the Mules advance to the winner's bracket and will play the winner of Minnesota-Duluth and Emporia State at 8:30 p.m. on Friday night.
