Photo Gallery vs. Oklahoma Christian (Championship Game)
BELTON, Texas – St. Edward's Baseball claimed its fourth-straight Heartland Conference Tournament title on Saturday afternoon in convincing fashion, as they cruised past Oklahoma Christian, 6-0, at Red Murff Field on the campus of Mary Hardin-Baylor. In addition to an automatic bid to the NCAA Regional Tournament,
ROMEO CORTINA garnered most valuable player honors.
Cortina capped off his first Heartland Conference Tournament appearance by going 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI. On the way to the title, the redshirt junior batted .636 on seven hits with three runs and two RBI in three games.
J.D. ARROWOOD and
JOSEPH OLSON joined Cortina on the all-tournament team with quality performances in the finale as well. The senior duo combined to go 4-for-10 while scoring twice and driving in three.
WESLEY HARRIS also garnered all-tournament honors, as he batted .308 over three games with a 1.000 fielding percentage at the shortstop position.
On the mound,
CAMERON STANTON made an outstanding start to earn his way onto the all-tournament team as well. Stanton pitched seven innings of four-hit, shutout baseball and struck out seven. He is now 10-1 on the year.
COLLIN SHERROD also joined the all-tournament squad, making a total of six Hilltoppers honored on the weekend.
St. Edward's is now 43-10 overall, and is just one win shy of matching the program record for wins in a season. With the victory, the Hilltoppers also extend their winning streak to 12 games, and have now won 19 of their last 20. Oklahoma Christian ends its season with a mark of 30-22.
"It's a lot easier to be a good coach when you have great players," said head coach Rob Penders. "The performance we got today out of Cam (Stanton) and Romeo is a testament for our whole team. We were locked in, and when you have talented guys who are locked in like we are right now, it makes the game a lot more fun to coach."
From the very first pitch it was all Hilltoppers. Olson opened things up with a one-out double, and quickly scored on Arrowood's single past the shortstop. Cortina followed that with a single, and
DYLAN WATTS made it back-to-back hits to load the bases. A RBI-walk to
NICK LERICK brought Cortina home, and made it 2-0, St. Edward's.
Oklahoma Christian put a runner on third base in the bottom of the opening frame. However, that would be the closest the Eagles got to home as Stanton got the third out by way of strikeout.
In the fifth inning, St. Edward's grabbed three more runs on three hits to make it 5-0. Another run in the sixth came as an added bonus, and made the final tally of 6-0.
Coach Penders and his squad now await the decision of the NCAA South Central Ranking Committee, which will announce the tournament host, and field on Sunday at 9 p.m. (CST). Current projections have the committee choosing between Colorado Mesa and St. Edward's as the host institution. Fans can go to NCAA.com to watch the selection show, or check back to GoHilltoppers.com for the final decision.
