Lewiston, Idaho - Behind the arm and bat of senior Mason Schwellenbach, the Central Methodist baseball program earned a gutsy 4-3 win over No. 6 seeded Faulker in their second game of the Avista NAIA World Series Monday night in Lewiston, Idaho.
The Eagles jumped out in front quickly with three runs in the top of the first inning. Deshawn Cole and Kenny Otero led off the inning and were both hit by pitches to put runners on first and second with no outs. Logan Haring then hit a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position. After a strikeout, Schwellenbach then stepped to the plate and hit a three-run home run to left field on an 0-1 count to put CMU out in front 3-0.
Central's pitching would take control over the next three innings, as Schwellenbach retired nine straight batters to preserve CMU's 3-0 lead. Faulkner would ultimately break through in the bottom of the fourth with three runs on three hits and an error by the CMU defense.
Faulkner looked poise to take their first lead of the evening in the bottom of the sixth. After a single, a walk, and a wild pitch, the Eagles of Faulkner had runners in scoring position with only one out. However, the next batter grounded out to Cole at second and Central was able to turn a 4-6-3 double play to keep Faulker off the scoreboard and the game tied at 3-3.
Grant Victor started the next half inning for CMU, leading off the seventh and reaching first on a wild throw from Faulkner's third basemen. Max McCay followed with a bunt and reached first on an error from the pitcher. With runners on the corners and no outs, Faulkner was able to turn a 5-3 double play, leaving pinch runner Isaiah Davis on second base with two outs.
Cole then stepped to the plate and singled to left field to score Davis and put Central back out in front 4-3. Faulkner continued to battle in the last two innings and in the eighth collected a single off of relief pitcher Beau Atkins. Attempting to move into scoring positon, the Faulkner baserunner looked to steal second in the following at bat, but was picked off by McCay to keep the Eagles out of scoring position. After another walk, Atkins retired the final two batters.
Atkins recorded the first out of the ninth before Faulker drew its third walk in the last two innings. Senior shortstop Sergio Macias then came in to retire the final two batters, striking out both and securing Central's 4-3 win.
Schwellenbach pitched a gem on the mound, tossing seven complete innings and giving up only one earned run on four hits with nine strikeouts, good enough to earn his 14th win of the season.
With the win tonight, Schwellenbach becomes the all-time wins leader in program history, breaking the previous record held by Kyle Fulton (25, 2016-19). During his time with Central, Schwellenbach has compiled a 26-3 overall mark and has thrown 254 total strikeouts, also a new program record, and a 2.78 earned run average through 194.1 total innings of work.
In addition to his work on the bump against Faulkner, Schwellenbach batted .250 including the three run home run in the opening inning. Atkins threw 1.1 innings, collecting one K, while Macias earned his sixth save of the season, tossing the final 0.2 innings in the ninth.
Devon Garcia, Haring and Cole were the only other Eagles to collect hits for Central.
CMU will face No. 5 seeded Georgia Gwinnett Tuesday, June 1 at 6:30 p.m. (PT).
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