Tampa Win Forces Elimination Game in National Semifinals

CARY, N.C. (June 11, 2021) - Central Missouri Mules Baseball suffered their first loss at the NCAA Division II World Series. Playing Tampa for the second straight game and after a three day layoff, the Spartans forced the if necessary game with their 8-1 win. The Mules season is not over though and these two teams will now play in an elimination game later tonight with the winner moving on to tomorrow's national championship.

How it Happened
• The Mules offense scattered just five hits and scored one run. All five hits were singles.
• Tampa did their damage late, scoring all eight runs in their final three trips to the plate.
• Central Missouri's bullpen allowed eight runs in three innings while the Spartans pen pitched three scoreless frames. 
• UCM was the only team to commit an error which led to five unearned runs. 
• The Mules had a chance to put a crooked number on the board in the first inning, but were only able to come away with a single run. Josh Schumacher and Erik Webb each reached to start the frame. With the bases loaded and one out, a wild pitch scored Schumacher from third and moved the runners up. Donovan Ditto hit a line drive to center with two outs, but it hung up long enough to be caught to end the inning.
• Tampa started their inning with a leadoff single. He was erased though by Dryer on a 3-6-1 double-play to end the inning.
• Central Missouri made that 1-0 lead hold up until the sixth. Josh Schumacher nearly gave UCM a 2-0 lead, but his deep fly to center was tracked down ending the inning. The Mules stranded four runners through the first four innings.
• The Spartans tied the game in the sixth, scoring off the Mules bullpen. Jamarcus Lyons doubled with two outs to tie the game. Tyler Kuhlmann left the bases loaded getting a ground out to second to keep the game tied.
• It didn't stay tied long. Tampa led off the seventh with a walk. After a pop out, Tampa connected for three straight singles, scoring two runs and taking their first lead, 3-1. With runners on the corners and one out, Brady Gavin entered and needed just two pitches, getting a 6-4-3 double play as Alex Madera made a sliding stop to his right and threw a strike from his knees to start the double play.
• Tampa tacked on in the eighth. A long at bat from JD Urso ended with a one-out single. One batter later, Dusty Stroup threw the ball away trying to start a 5-4-3 double play putting runners on the corners. The Spartans executed a safety squeeze as Urso came in with their fourth run of the game. 
• With two outs, Tampa kept adding on in the eighth. They got two runs on wild pitches and RBI singles from EJ Cumbo and Luke Glancy for an 8-1 lead. It could have been more but Micah Evans laid out for a diving catch in center to end the inning and strand two more. 

Mules Stat Leaders
• Conor Dryer started and threw five scoreless innings, needing just 69 pitches. He allowed three hits and a walk and struck out two, getting seven fly ball outs.
• Josh Schumacher was 1-3 and scored for the Mules.
• Erik Webb reached base twice with a hit and a walk. 
• Scott Wolverton was 1-2 and also drewa walk and was hit by a pitch. 

For the Spartans
• Eric Linder pitched the first six innings. After allowing a first inning run, he threw five shutout frames, finishing his day allowing a run on four hits with three walks and two strikeouts.
• EJ Cumbo was 3-5 with two runs scored and an RBI.
• Christian Flint also picked up three hits and scored twice.
• Luke Glancy drove in two runs on two hits.
• Jordan Leasure gave the Spartans two scoreless innings in relief with a strikeout. 

News and Notes
• Micah Evans extended his reached base streak to 44 straight games.
• The Mules five hits match their lowest for a game this season. 
• UCM's error is their first in five games and just their third in the NCAA postseason. 
• The loss snaps the Mules 15 game winning streak. They had two 15+ game winning streaks this season. 
• Each team left nine runners on base. UCM was 1-11 with runners on base while Tampa was 9-21. Tampa was also 6-11 hitting with runners in scoring position. 

Quotable
Coach Crookes
Opening Statement
• I thought Conor did a great job, giving us a great start and the opportunity to try to score some runs early. We got one across and we left some on the board in the first and that's kind of the story I think of the first three innings. We didn't execute very well and I think Linder grew into the game and got better and we continued to do him favors. Hit into a lot of non-pressure outs. Then they got it to Leasure and that was a tough task. So Conor gave us every opportunity to build as an offense and we had it set up in the first and we just didn't take advantage of our opportunities there and in the innings following. In the second and third I think we had some traffic on the bases too. That's disappointing. Something that we're going to have to do better moving forward.

I tip my hat to Tampa. Their offense came alive when it matters and the end of the game. It started when they scratched a run across to tie it up and then they started to add some crooked numbers. They did a good job of hitting, competing pitches, fouling off two-strike pitches and taking marginal ones. As they applied pressure we seemed to allow more runs to get across which is something that we don't want to have happen but it certainly did.

It's a tough game. Conor did a great job. He gave us a chance. That's all that we could ever ask. That's five strong, solid innings from him and we just need to do better on the back end of that game. I've got to do a lot of stuff better myself and I'll work with the coaching staff, put our head's together and figure out what we're going to do tonight. 

On pulling Dryer after five innings
• We didn't have it planned out it's going to be five and that's it. We've been with each other for a long time now and have a pretty decent idea of what the starts have been. We were pretty excited about the fifth and getting through it and him doing it. It felt like it was time to go to the bullpen as they turned it over to the top of the lineup. That was the thought process. It wasn't pre-set or anything it just was. It felt like the right thing to do. In retrospect, I'd have obviously liked to have done it better and I think Conor would tell you he had bullets left. We had that discussion.

On Tampa getting out of first inning trouble
• You never feel good about leaving runs that you think you should get and letting somebody off the hook, especially a good team like Tampa. After the first, and with Conor throwing, I didn't see anything else coming other than us continuing to put pressure on and have that opportunity again. I tip my hat to Linder (Tampa starting pitcher). He was able to find himself. We have to adjust and reset because I think our offense got outside itself a little bit and started to do some things that we don't normally do.

On the Mules ability to bounce back after a tough loss
• I believe in the people in this uniform. It's not analyzing it. I've been around them enough to know. I've got full faith in everybody that's going to take the ball, that's going to get in the box, that's going to defend. In terms of my belief in our ability to come back and win the next game, I have total belief and total confidence in what we are and what they are and what they're capable of doing. So in terms of that, regardless of what's happened in the past, that doesn't play into anything we're about to do here tonight. I do believe in the people. I believe in their work and their preparation. I feel good about it.

On the Mules defense
• You never want to make mistakes. We made a few. And against a good team they're going to capitalize and they did. I hate to see it because we do pride ourselves on the work that we do defensive and in all three phases of the game. It's not without cause. They executed a safety (squeeze) and did a good job of taking marginal pitches and we made the big mistake of continuing the (8th) inning and extended it out for them. We have to be better. That's one of the things I'm sure everybody in our uniform knows and is already aware of. We'll discuss it and then move forward. It's probably a decent reason as to why things continued to slide away from us as we were chasing that lead.

Conor Dryer
On what was working for him
• I'd say my fastball and curveball played today. I didn't get as many strikeouts as I wanted to, but I felt like I made them uncomfortable. There wasn't a lot of hard contact. My curve ball was my putaway pitch, but it was also the pitch I relied most on whenever I needed to steal a strike. Fastball, curveball combo and the fastball was up in velocity today which was nice.

On if he could have pitched deeper into the game
• I had some left in the tank but at the same time, me and Coach go way back. It's been a journey this entire year. I had full faith in our bullpen and full faith in him when he made that decision so I was completely okay with it.

On the experience in playing in a semifinal elimination game
• I'd say it's not unfamiliar. We have a lot of guys who played on that 2019 Cary team. It's not like we haven't been here before. As you can tell, at the end of the game they (Tampa) got a little chirpy. I think the guys are fired up and ready to come back late at night to get the job done and move on to tomorrow.

On moving on from the game 
• I think that you can take it for what it is. It's not too much to analyze. We just have to do what we do better. That's ultimately what it is. We're going to go out there and do our job. 

Up Next
• These two teams will meet for the third straight time tonight in an elimination game with first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT. The winner advances to the national championship game tomorrow.