Verdejo's walk-off double lifts TMU to sweep of Corban

By the time Roy Verdejo arrived at second base Saturday, he had officially helped the Mustangs avoid a dour ending to an otherwise upbeat weekend.

With Master's trailing by a run in its final at-bat, Verdejo's drive off the left-field wall scored Nick Tuttle from third and sent Tyler Van Marter wheeling around from first as the winning run. Then came something Verdejo had no hope of avoiding.

"I see 28 to 30 guys coming right at me and I just freeze for a minute," Verdejo said. "I'm like, 'Oh no.'"

The stampede of Master's players proceeded to pull Verdejo's jersey off and dump water on their hero.

Verdejo finished with three hits and three RBIs in TMU's walk-off 8-7 victory over Corban University (OR). It was a much more welcomed conclusion to a double-header that began with a 9-2 win over the Warriors.

Van Marter headlined the morning's victory, going 4-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs. "He's a man on fire," Verdejo said.

Freshman Nelson Schutte earned his first college win, following up his sterling debut from a week ago with a strong encore performance.

Schutte held Corban (0-8) to three hits over five innings, striking out three and walking two.

Not to be outdone, Alec Akins was equally effective in his first appearance as a Mustang in the afternoon's contest, which was scheduled for seven innings. The junior transfer allowed just an unearned run over five innings. He struck out four and walked none.

"Phenomenal. I loved it," Master's head coach Monte Brooks said of Akins' outing. "He was really composed. He commanded all three pitches and had great rhythm."

The Mustangs built a 6-1 lead by the end of the third inning, the last run coming across on a Joel Larsen RBI double. They held that advantage until the sixth when Corban scratched two runs across.

The Warriors plated four more runs in the seventh against three Mustang pitchers. Righty Connor Dreyer finally stopped the bleeding, but Corban took a 7-6 lead into the bottom of the frame and threatened to put a different tone on a weekend that began with a two-game sweep of Avila University (MO) on Friday.

But the Mustangs weren't finished.  

Tuttle was hit by a pitch and stole second. He advanced to third when Van Marter bounced a ball to short and Corban's shortstop attempted to throw Tuttle out. Tuttle slid head-first ahead of the tag at third.

Then Brooks took a "calculated risk," putting a hit-and-run in motion that ultimately gave Van Marter a head start on finishing the game.  

"I got to second and I saw the outfielder turn like he had a chance to catch it," Van Marter said. "But it went over his head and it bounced off the wall and when that happened I knew I could score."

So what happened when Verdejo was overcome by a deluge of teammates?

"I know he came out of the circle without his jersey on," Van Marter said. "That's the exciting part of it."