Box Score

TYLER, Texas – McMurry University's seventh-straight American Southwest Conference Baseball Tournament run ended much like the sixth one. The No. 20 UT-Tyler Patriots for the second-straight season defeated McMurry University in a best-of-three series to advance to the tournament's championship round next weekend in Seguin.

This season, all it took was two games as the Patriots took game one Friday night 5-1 and clinched the series Saturday at Irwin Field with a 14-9 victory. The loss dropped McMurry to an even 21-21 to finish the season. Although, it wasn't a losing season for McMurry, it was the first-ever non-winning season since the program was reinstated in 1996.

Four of the Patriots' first six runs Saturday were thanks to two costly errors in the field by McMurry as starter Dakota Smith saw four unearned runs cross the plate. In the top of the first a two-out error allowed UT-Tyler to scored two additional runs and jump out to a 3-0 advantage. McMurry's Matt Thompson countered with a three-run homer to knot the score in the bottom half of the inning to provide a new ball game.

Then, McMurry took its only lead in the third when Jake Mullin led off the bottom of third inning with a double and later came around to score on Jeff Jackson's sacrifice fly. However in the fourth, another error, this time by Smith on a sacrifice bunt attempt kept the inning alive and Justin Juneau hit a bases-loaded double that cleared the bases giving UT-Tyler a 6-4 lead, from which the Patriots never looked back.

After building a 12-4 lead, McMurry scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to cut the deficit to five. However, the Patriots added two more runs in the top of the eighth to make the score 14-7.

Jake Mullin and Brian Durst each hit solo home runs in the bottom of the ninth in a last-ditch effort to save McMurry's season, however, that would be the only two runs scored in McMurry's final at bat.

UT-Tyler improved to 32-10 on the season and will look to defend its ASC title after winning its first in school history in 2009.

Game Notes:

• McMurry served as the home team in game two of the best-of-three series despite being on UT-Tyler's home field due to ASC Playoff Rules
• Jeff Jackson, Dakota Smith and Derek McBride were the only three seniors on the McMurry roster. Jackson finished his career in the top ten in school history in several offensive categories for career while Smith did the same on the pitching side of the record book. These numbers will be compiled and released when all-conference awards are handed out.
• Jackson, Smith and McBride were all four-year players and spent their first two seasons under head coach Lee Driggers and the last two under head coach John Byington
• Jackson played his final game as a collegiate baseball player from the DH spot after starting at catcher for 38 of McMurry's 42 games this season. Jackson was injured after a collision at the plate in Friday night's loss to UT-Tyler