ROUND ROCK, Texas -- McMurry jumped out early and never looked back, cruising to a 12-2 run rule victory over St. Thomas in the first elimination game of the 2025 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Baseball Championship Saturday afternoon at Dell Diamond. Official Website l Tournament Stats l Photo Gallery
The War Hawks, who improved to 32-10 with the win, scored five runs in the first inning and five more in the seventh to put away the Celts.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Blake Beach's two run single in the first inning was the big blow as McMurry scored five runs off three hits, four walks and one St. Thomas throwing error to jump out to a 5-0 lead.
- St. Thomas dented the scoreboard in the third inning, plating two runs on a Tyler Mills single to left center.
- RBI singles from Beckham Paul and Riley Hood in the fifth and sixth innings, put McMurry up 7-2 and then the War Hawks exploded for their second five-run inning of the game, all with two outs, to go up 12-2. Ty Nelson, Collin Bruning, Michael Smosna, Nolan Scherence all had RBI singles in the frame.
- McMurry starter Hunter Poe worked 6.0 innings, allowing just four hits and two earned runs while striking out seven, to pick up his league-tying ninth win of the season.
MCMURRY UNIVERSITY STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
- Collin Bruning: 3-4, 3 runs, 2 RBI, 1 BB
- Michael Smosna: 2-4, 2 runs, 1 RBI, 1 BB
- Blake Beach: 1-3, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 1 SB
- Ty Nelson: 2-3, 1 run, 1 RBI
- Koy Carpenter: 2-4, 2 runs
- Hunter Poe (WP): 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 7 K, 1 BB
UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
- Tyler Mills: 1-3, 2 RBI
- Jarod Smith: 1-3, 1 run
- Walker Holzhausen (LP): 0.2 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 BB
NOTABLES
- McMurry picked up its first-ever SCAC Tournament win.
- McMurry's run-rule win over St. Thomas was the first run-rule game in the SCAC Tournament since Trinity defeated St. Thomas 11-1 in eight innings at the 2022 championships.
- St. Thomas ends its season with a 19-20 mark.
UP NEXT
McMurry (32-10) advances to play the loser of tonight's winner's bracket game at Noon tomorrow (Sunday). The winner of that game will turn around and play the winner of tonight's winner's bracket game at approximately 3:30 p.m. needing to win that game to force a final and deciding game on Monday.
