CARY, N.C. (June 12, 2021) - Central Missouri Baseball's run for a national championship fell one game short. The Mules won earlier in the day to advance to the national championship game, but couldn't overcome a red-hot Wingate Bulldogs team who lost their first game of the tournament, before winning five straight, including a 5-3 win over the Mules in the championship game. 

How it Happened
• Playing an hour after their win over Tampa, the Mules scored the same number of runs as they did in their win, three. UCM scored in just one innings while Wingate was able to sustain a couple of rallies and score five runs.
• The Mules collected just five hits, matching their season low and went hitless over their final five innings. Wingate knocked nine base-hits. Each team had one double as the only extra-base hits in the game.
• Wingate collected six hits in 19 at bats with runners on base, while the Mules were just 3-13 in those opportunities. 
• Each team got the leadoff hitter on base three times. 
• In the field, Wingate played a clean game defensively, while the Mules committed three errors which led to two unearned runs.
• The Mules had an excellent chance in the first inning to score some runs but came up empty. Wingate starter Hunter Dula threw 35 pitches walking two batters and hitting another to load the bases. With two outs though, he got a strikeout looking to keep UCM from scoring.
• Wingate had an opportunity in the second to take an early lead. Alex Madera made a diving stop to his right and threw out the first batter of the inning. That proved to be big as the Bulldogs put runners on second and third with two outs, but a fly ball to right ended the threat.
• The Bulldogs capitalized in the third inning to score the first runs of the game. The Mules committed defensive errors on three consecutive batters, including one two-base error which brought in two runs for Wingate and chased UCM starter Collin Jones from the game.
• UCM's offense answered though an inning later. Alex Madera, Brennen vanBreusegen and Josh Schumacher all collected RBI hits and put the Mules in front 3-2.
• The Mules nearly added on in the fifth. With Dusty Stroup on second and one out, Donovan Ditto hit a lined shot back up the middle, but right to the second baseman, who picked off the line drive and double-up Stroup off second to end the inning.
• Wingate carried that momentum into the bottom of the frame. McCann Mellett led off with a walk and scored on Logan McNeely's RBI single to tie the game. An opposite field single off the bat of Gehrig Christopher gave the Bulldogs the lead back. 
• It could have been much more for Wingate though who left the bases loaded as Brady Gavin coaxed a ground ball to end the inning.
• Wingate again failed to tack on runs in the sixth inning. With runners on the corners and one out, Conor Dryer, yesterday's starting pitcher, came out of the bullpen and got a 6-4-3 double play to keep it a 4-3 game.
• In the seventh, the Bulldogs finally got an insurance run across. Jed Bryant singled to start the inning and pinch hitter Grayson Chapman doubled deep to right center scoring McNeely for a 5-3 lead.
• The Mules went without a baserunner for four straight innings from the 5th-8th. With two outs in the ninth, vanBreusegen drew a walk and stole a base, but he was left on second as a strikeout ended the game and the season for the Mules. 

Mules Stat Leaders
• Alex Madera doubled, scored a run and picked up an RBI.
• Brennen vanBreusegen also had a hit, RBI and run scored.
• Josh Schumacher reached base twice with an RBI hit and a walk.
• Collin Jones was betrayed by his defense. He was pulled after two and third innings allowing two unearned runs on two hits with a strikeout.
• Chase Plymell threw two innings in relief surrendering two runs on two hits with three strikeouts. 
• Brady Gavin and Evan Rathburn each worked scoreless innings in relief. 

For the Bulldogs
• Hunter Dula started and threw the first four innings. He allowed three runs on five hits with three walks and two strikeouts.
• Sam Broderson was the story on the mound for the Bulldogs. He threw the final five innings in relief and didn't allow a hit while striking out five.
• Logan McNeely had a single and drove in two runs.
• Jed Bryant and Gehrig Christopher each had a pair of hits. 
• McCann Mellett singled and scored two runs. 

News and Notes
• Wingate was the de facto home team in the tournament, located just 130 miles away from Cary, N.C. 
• The last time the Mules committed three errors in a game, much less an inning, was March 19. The three errors matches their most for this season, done twice earlier in the year. 
• Following the game, Mason Green, Garrett Pennington and Erik Webb were each named to the All-Tournament team. 
• Erik Webb had a team-high seven hits in the tournament with four of them home runs.
• Mason Green was 2-0 with a 0.69 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 13 innings pitched in Cary. 
• This was the fourth time the Mules have made the national championship game in program history. They are 2-2.
• In the last two complete seasons, the Mules have finished third and now second at the College World Series. 

Quotable 
Coach Crookes 
Opening Statement
• First of all, congratulations to Wingate. Tremendous team, great coaching staff and players. I want to wish them all the best on a game well played and well done to their university and all their players. In terms of the game, we did what we don't normally do. We gave them runs early and that created opportunities for them. The margins are thin and they took advantage of those opportunities. A couple things happened to Brady (Gavin) that there's nothing you can do about. A couple of slowly hit balls that just found holes or were too softly hit to make a play on and ultimately that created the difference.

I thought that Collin (Jones) did a tremendous job in terms of his effort and we just didn't defend it for him and that led to the first couple. We responded and as the people who are here and the kids in our uniform knew that we would but hats off to their pitching staff. They were able to hold us down and we just had a few too many weak, early contacts and we weren't able to string much together. When we get things strung together it's pretty special. We just weren't able to do it enough and a lot of that has to do with the guys that they were throwing and their plan. You have to tip your cap. We'll do some things better. We've talked about it all year as a group. We just gave them a little bit too much there and that was the difference in the game. 

On his team's resiliency
• It's a resilient group. They fought all year to get here. They are resilient. They've experienced a lot. It's hard for me to go too deep into the people in this uniform. I care a great deal about them. From everything they do, the humans that they are and how they go about their everyday life and how they become better people and better students and better baseball players. In terms of this group, are they resilient, sure. You know I also know this group well enough to know that these guys want another shot at it and would play three today if you asked us to. I think the right decisions were made in terms of getting us to today. I tip my hat to the committee and the representatives that made those decisions. It was adverse but everyone has to deal with it. Everyone had to deal with the rain and we're no different. In terms of my pride in the group in the dugout and my team in general, I can't say it enough I love them all. I'd go to war with them any day and like I said, we'd go back and play right now if we could. It's a resilient group. Circumstances are what they are. They were the same for everybody and we just came up on the short end of it.

On his message to the team moving forward
• I don't know that there's two messages, but there's people headed out the door that I care greatly for. They've got life in front of them whether it's baseball or real world and jobs. I'm proud of them. That's the first message that I love them. First and foremost. They represented us to the best of their ability and they have nothing to feel bad about or to be upset about because they've done everything we've asked them to do from the time they walked through the doors here. For the guys walking out the doors, making sure they know that this doesn't define them, it just becomes part of who they are. It doesn't make them anything less than the great humans that they are and it just prepares them for what lies in front of them. If they can apply this to what they move on to, whether it's baseball or in real life, then we'll be building the right people and doing the right things.

From the group that comes back on this year, certainly there are lessons to be learned on the baseball side of it that we'll talk about. I think it's more important to talk about the growth of them as people and how much care about them and how much we love them and how much we appreciate what they've done here. For the youngers, if they were a part of it, understanding what it took and how difficult it is to be here and how slim the margins are. You don't always get what you deserve and that's a part of life. I feel like these guys deserved it, that doesn't always mean that they get to have that but that's part of it. Their ability to deal with that and move forward and continue to be great and try to achieve the best of themselves is what the message becomes. For the guys returning it's back to work. We'll go back to work and keep doing what we do and hope to be in this position again. 

On if there was any disadvantage playing two games today
• It's negligible. If anything we feel pretty good after winning a game against a pretty good Tampa team and feel good about what we're doing moving forward into the next game. We played doubleheaders all year this year. Based on what our season was, we were prepared for it, we were capable of it. Normally we win the backend of a doubleheader. We just didn't win the back end of this doubleheader. 

On the three-error third inning
• It's disappointing. Physical errors, not errors of omission, not errors of fear, not errors of lack of effort or lack of effort, they hurt. They make it tough, no question. Giving a good team extra outs is not what you want to do when you're trying to win a game so that makes it tough. That's the best fielding second baseman I've ever had. I've never seen him make errors that way. But some of that has to do with the hustle of Wingate down the line, some of it has to do with the softness of the contact, the placement of it, so many things. If you gave me another 100 of those ground balls, I don't think Donny (Ditto) would miss any of them. That's that. It hurts in the game, in the scorebook when you see two runs, but we came back from that. We recovered from that and kept them below three. Didn't let them have a big inning, just gave up two. Did a great job out of the bullpen. That's part of it. That's part of the story, I don't think that's the whole story but certainly it doesn't help. If we play clean defense is the outcome different? I don't know but that's spilled milk that we can't cry over right now. 

On Mason Green's performance against Tampa in game one today
• I could talk about it now because the season's over and I haven't been able to talk about it, but I don't think Mason's lost in our uniform. Am I impressed? Yes. I think that's a pretty impressive feat. Did I plan on getting rain delayed and coming back with him? No, but he asked for the ball. The amount of pitches he threw last night elicited it being safe for him to do in terms of his arm and his future. He gave us a tremendous outing, a gutty outing. Is it surprising? No. I think that's what Mason's done all year. He held down a really good team. At this time of year, big players step up in big situations and he certainly did that. It's impressive, no question. It shows beyond Mason's talent, it shows his heart and his grit and his toughness and his willingness to do whatever it takes to put his team in a position to have success. 

On the future of the team
• That's what Alex (Madera) was referring to in terms of planting seeds. We've got some other players. It's not a core. It's the entire team of very close guys, it's close knit group. They've been here for the last few years and fought together. I think they chose to come back this year because of the people that they're surrounded by and the environment and the group that's here. I'll go back again, this doesn't define them as people, but I think their willingness to be around each other, their desire to be around each other, their desire to try to help grow and make a path for some of the younger players in the experience. We're going to miss every single one of the guys that walk out the door, but feel very confident in the lessons that they've taught. The lessons that they've passed down to the younger guys. The (Garrett) Pennington's, (Cole) Moore's (Brennen) vanBreusegen's of the world and on and on. What they did was come into this program and accepted the standard that's been here for so long and were able to pass down what it takes to be a Mule. I think they did it as well as anybody could do it. 

Alex Madera
On his experience in the national championship
• Playing back-to-back games is nothing new. We have been doing that all year and we have been talking about the adversity and we couldn't control the weather and the circumstances we were put in but we overcame it against Tampa and had to come back later.

Overall it was a really great experience. Wingate is a great team. We knew we had to compete hard and baseball happens.

On his message to those returning next year
• I think that for us as players, the bond that we create on the field on a day to day basis, how we love each other, how we make each other better, is what's important because iron sharpens iron. It's not just about getting here. It's about becoming a better person and player. I still remember my first game in Houston. It's nothing different. We just keep building towards our best that we can be. Are we there? I'm pretty sure we're not. If you ask the players, there is still growth to be had and that's amazing. How talented each of us are, but it's not just that, we work hard as well. For returners and new players, they have a standard. And the standard is just to show up at the field and be the best that you can be. There's no doubt that all of us today we played with all of our hearts. The effort was there. We fell short. That's baseball. As Coach Crookes said, that's not our identity or who we are. We are just planting seeds. We had 15, 16 seniors this year. We are just planting seeds. Little by little in the future this program is going to keep growing and growing but it'll never be 100%. There's always room to grow. 

On Wingate relief pitcher Sam Broderson
• I think it's not so much what he was doing. He was mainly throwing his fastball on the outside. I really don't know. We had good swings. Round bat, round ball. Baseball happens. That's just what the sport is. Baseball is a game of failure and all we can control is the swing we put on the ball. We can crush a ball to center and it doesn't go as far today. Same with line drives. Right at people. We put some good swings just baseball happens. We have to be grateful for the opportunities we do have.