CARY, N.C. (June 5, 2021) - Central Missouri Mules Baseball took the field in Cary, N.C. in search of their third national championship in team history. The Mules cleared their first hurdle, defeating the No. 8 seed Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks 9-3.
How it Happened
• The Mules collected 12 hits in eight trips to the plate and scored nine runs. Northwest Nazarene was able to piece together eight base knocks, but scored just three times.
• Northwest Nazarene's defense committed two errors, though no unearned runs were scored. A misplay in the outfield also allowed a Mule run to score.
• Central Missouri pitchers struck out 16 batters while UCM fanned just three times themselves.
• The Nighthawks had the first chance to score. In the second, a double off of
Erik Webb's glove in right field put runners on second and third with one out.
Mason Green got out of the jam unharmed though with a strikeout and a ground out to end the inning.
• In the home half of the second, UCM struck first.
Garrett Pennington started the inning with a long double off the base of the right-centerfield wall. He came in to score on
Micah Evans' RBI single and the Mules led 1-0.
• UCM led the rest of the way. They added on in the fourth with two-out scoring.
Micah Evans drew a two-out walk and
Cole Taylor hooked one down the right field line and over the fence for a two-run home run, putting UCM up 3-0.
• That's how the score remained until the sixth A seeing-eye single put a runner on base for Northwest Nazarene. It looked like the Mules might get out of the inning, but a bloop single fell between short and center to plate the Nighthawks' first run.
• Central Missouri answered by plating four in the home half of the sixth. Taylor went to the right side for a home run and then went down the left field line for at two-RBI double.
Donovan Ditto and
Garrett Pennington came in to score.
• The Mules weren't done in the sixth.
Scott Wolverton drove in
Micah Evans and then
Josh Schumacher laid down a safety squeeze as Taylor came in with the Mules seventh run and fourth of the inning.
• Wolverton picked up RBI number two an inning later. His two-out single drove in Evans.
• The Nighthawks scored twice in the eighth. They led off the inning with a triple to center and an infield single brought home Shawn Grandmont. An Alex Salzman RBI double brought in the second NNU run of the inning.
• The Mules ended the scoring in memorable fashion.
Erik Webb hit his 62nd career home run leading off the bottom of the eighth and his second career inside-the-park home run. Webb hit a sinking line drive to center that the centerfielder was unable to grab on his sliding attempt and Webb completed the merry-go-round. Webb also hit an inside-the-park- home run April 27, 2019 against Fort Hays State.
Mules Stat Leaders
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Mason Green threw the first six innings. He allowed a run on five hits while striking out eight.
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Scott Wolverton picked up three hits and drove in a pair.
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Cole Taylor doubled, homered and drove in four runs.
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Micah Evans reached base four times with two singles and two walks. He scored three runs and stole two bases.
•
Erik Webb was 2-4 with an inside the park home run. The 62nd of his career.
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Garrett Pennington doubled and scored two runs.
•
Chase Plymell and
Brady Gavin combined for three innings and struck out eight batters.
For the Nighthawks
• Sasha Jabusch started and lasted five innings. He gave up four runs on six hits.
• Shawn Grandmont was 2-4 with two runs scored.
• Alex Salsman doubled and drove in a run.
• Grant Kerry was 1-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
News and Notes
• This was
Mason Green's second start in Cary. In 2019, Green threw seven innings allowing three unearned runs while striking out 12 in a Mules 11-3 win over Ashland.
•
Mason Green also matches Danny Powers for the UCM single season wins record with 15.
•
Chase Plymell also pitched that UCM-Ashland game in 2019. He tossed two hitless innings to seal the win.
• The bottom of the order for the Mules,
Micah Evans,
Cole Taylor and
Scott Wolverton were a combined 7-10 with seven RBI.
• Evans upped his reached base streak to 42 straight games.
• All nine Nighthawks batters struck out at least once.
• The Mules are now 10-0 in postseason games this season.
• The game was the first ever for the Mules against a team from the state of Idaho. They've now faced opponents from 35 different states.
• Central Missouri wins their 14th straight game.
• The Mules now even up their all-time record at the College World Series at 33-33.
Quotable
Coach Crookes
Opening Statement
• It was a good game. I thought it was a good pitching performance from Mason (Green). He gave us six solid innings and was able to pitch his way out of a jam and eliminate their ability to jump up on us early and give us time as an offense to score and we were finally able to do that. We got a couple of big hits with two outs.
Cole Taylor was able to do something. We built the offense. It took a little while. Mason was able to hold them. That's a good offensive team that can hit. They're an athletic offense up and down the lineup. One through nine will scare you. I thought it was a good performance from Mason to give up an opportunity to throw some zeroes up and catch up offensively and do what we need to do to score a few more than they do.
On Bottom of the Order Production
• It's huge. Production is production. All of these guys have high standards. They know what's expected of them. They know how tough it is to face the arms that we're going to face. We'd like production everywhere but obviously hitting it tough and you're not always going to get it from the guys at the top. These guys have carried us from game to game and it's just a matter of who it is. Certainly we needed it tonight and they got real big hits. It's incredibly important. It's one of the few times that Schu (
Josh Schumacher) hasn't gotten a hit and if that's the case somebody else has to be next man up and pick the mantle up and carry us and that's what these guys did.
On Getting an Early Lead
• Getting a lead is any teams goal. It's certainly our goal. We like to get up early. I think it helps your pitcher breathe a little bit. It helps your defense breathe a little bit and it helps the offense breathe a little bit. I believe getting up early is important. You can't script every game to go the way you want it to. I thought the guy they rolled out had some good stuff. He had a good breaking ball. He had a little life to his fastball. I'm proud of the guys for being able to scratch a run or two across and like I said proud of Mason for holding the line and giving us the opportunity. I r
On the Relief Pitching
• (Chase) Plymell has done a great job for us all year and his ability to come in and do what he did. That first inning when the score was 6-1 and still undetermined in terms of the game he was able to hold the line and keep them off the board and keep them off the bases. I imagine if you ask him about the eighth inning he'd probably tell you he didn't think he did so well but again that team can hit. His response to that was awesome. He didn't let it be anything more than what it was. He didn't walk anybody, didn't get out of whack, didn't do anything crazy. He went on and kept doing his thing. It's big. In any post season game any pitch that's thrown is a high-leverage pitch, a high-level situation. That team can put up a handful of runs in a second so it doesn't take much. You saw what they can do, bang bang and two runs scored. It's always going to be a threat and I imagine most of the teams in this tournament will be that way as well. Plymell did a great job and I thought
Brady Gavin did a great job. We're going to need them all. I'm proud of them. I'm proud of all their efforts. We'll continue to work at making ourselves better and we'll start with that tomorrow.
Cole Taylor
On his Home Run
• The home run I think he started me off with a slider and then threw another one and that's what I was hunting and I got the pitch that I wanted and hit it out.
On Continued Success from the Regional Championship
• I don't know if I would say I had a good regional, but I'm trying to keep it rolling and help the boys out however I can.
Up Next
• The Mules will remain in the winner's bracket. They'll take on No. 5 Tampa who came back from down 6-3 for a 7-6 win in 10 innings in their first game.
• Tampa is still the defending national champions, having won it all in 2019.
