The Master's baseball team scored five runs in the top of the ninth to break a 5-5 tie to defeat the Bethesda Flames Thursday in the regular season finale.
Conor Christiansen's pinch-hit, two-run home run in that ninth inning proved to be the game winner. That was followed by an RBI double by
Will Batz and a two-RBI single by
Austin Young.
Ryan Mathiesen, who had come on in relief to pitch the eighth and ninth innings, picked up the win.
Batz started the scoring for the Mustangs (30-14) in the top of the first when Young's single brought him in. But the Flames responded with three runs in their half of the first off TMU starter
Carson Knapp.
TMU tied it in the third when Young scored on the first triple of the season by
Evan Banks. Mathiesen followed with a ground ball that turned into a fielder's choice when Banks was tagged out at the plate. Mathiesen, however, would score the tying run off a
Miles Henderson single to center.
After the Flames added a run in the bottom of the third, The Master's tied it 4-4 in the top of the fourth when Banks earned a two-out, bases-loaded walk that brought in
Davis Beavers. Batz would add a solo home run in the sixth, his sixth round tripper of the season and 21st of his career, to make it 5-4 TMU.
But again the Flames responded with a run in their half of the sixth to tie it at 5-5 and set up the dramatic ninth-inning win for the Mustangs.
Austin Young finished 3-for-5 with a walk and three RBIs. Batz was 2-for-3 with three walks, three runs scored and two RBIs. Both Henderson and
Tyler Grodell added two hits each.
The Master's, seeded No. 4, now prepares for the GSAC Baseball Tournament as they play No. 5-seed Arizona Christian Monday, 10 a.m. PT at OC Great Park in Irvine, Calif. Should the Mustangs win that game they will play No. 1-seed Westmont on the same day at 6 p.m. You can click
HERE to watch that opening game and all of the games in the double-elimination tournament.Â
