MESA, Ariz. -- The Master's baseball team got another complete game, 9-inning gem from
Carson Ohl to defeat No. 1-seed Hope International Royals 8-3 in their opening game of the GSAC Baseball Championship tournament Monday at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz.
Ohl, a grad student from Simi Valley who came to the Mustangs from Virginia Tech, gave up three runs on seven hits while striking out five in his 114-pitch outing.
"I'm very thankful to the Lord for allowing us to experience this kind of environment and extend out post season and allow these guys to put Christ on display," said TMU Head Coach
Monte Brooks. "And then to see an outing like that from Carson... it's just a joy to see him play. I'm honored to have him and experience him. He has a great, very centralized concentration level, and he has such great command. It's almost like a video game where you call the pitch and location and he puts it there. He's just extremely impressive."
For Ohl, he said he could not have had that performance on the mound without his teammates coming through on offense and defense.
"First and foremost, pitching with a solid defense behind you is just a lot of fun," Ohl said. "I mean, they had my back and I tried to have theirs as much as I could. And they picked me up on the offensive side, and that was just really cool to watch. And I have to give thanks to Jesus Christ. Without Him I can't even go out there and compete. So it's such a huge blessing to go out there and have fun."
The scoring got started in the top of the third inning for the No. 4-seed Mustangs when
Owen Payn tripled to right-center field to score
Tommy Gwinn. The next batter was
Scotty Pieper whose single scored Payn to put TMU up 2-0.
In the meantime, Ohl was retiring batters. He set down the first 10 he faced before giving up a 4th-inning single. He then retired the next nine he faced before giving up his next single in the bottom of the eighth.
But by that time The Master's led 8-0 after putting six on the board in the top of the eighth. It started with an
Austin Young solo home run to right field. Moments later,
Ty Beck scored on an error. Two batters later and the bases now loaded, Gwinn smacked a single to left to score both
Jacob Kowes and
Cason Brownell to put TMU up 6-0.
Kobe Katayama then scored on a fielder's choice, followed by
Austin Young getting his second RBI of the inning on a sac fly that scored Gwinn.
The Royals scored two in the eighth and another in the bottom of the ninth, but the difference was too much to make up.
"The two runs early in the game were good because that put a little bit of pressure on them and it gave us a little bit of a cushion. " Coach Brooks said. "I'm trying to get these guys to go pitch-by-pitch-by-pitch. And we want leaders to talk, communicate and execute. And that's what they did."
The Master's will next play No. 2-seed Arizona Christian Tuesday at noon in the winner's bracket.
