Home  Baseball Baseball - Bears Magical Run Ends in Championship Game
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Baseball - Bears Magical Run Ends in Championship Game |
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 Riley Beecher was 3 for 3 in the NEWMAC Championship game.
Coast Guard, which was 9-17 after a first round loss in the tournament, won three straight games to reach the fourth NEWMAC championship game in program history and first since 2003.
The Bears swept Springfield on the final day of regular season play in the conference just to qualify for the tournament. Coast Guard lost its first game of the tournament to second-seeded Babson 8-1 before winning three straight elimination games, two of those yesterday. The Bears beat MIT 7-6 in 11 innings before a 14-5 win over Babson, which had won the three previous meetings this season. Coast Guard then earned a spot in the championship game with an 8-6 win over third-seeded WPI.
Wheaton, which has now won ten of the 12 NEWMAC tournament championships since the league began in 1999, scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning, extended the lead to 12-2 after four innings and never looked back. The Lyons beat the Bears for the fourth time in NEWMAC championship game history as Wheaton as beat Coast Guard in 2000, 2001 and 2003.
Freshman Riley Beecher was 3 for 3 with a pair of runs scored for the Bears while senior Ryan Milligan had a pair of hits and freshman Cameron Carroll drove in a pair of runs in the loss.
Freshman Nate Toll (3-3) lasted just 3 and 2/3 innings and took the loss for the Bears.
Coast Guard had not qualified for the NEWMAC tournament since the 2007 season. The Bears, who were just hoping to make the tournament for the first time since the conference changed the format and took the top six teams, made their magical run with a roster that features 13 freshman and the team’s top four hitters this season are freshman.
The Bears (12-18) will close out the season at home on Wednesday vs. Mitchell at 3:30 p.m.
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