Whitworth Regional Tournament Website

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Texas Lutheran Baseball secured their spot in the NCAA DIII Baseball Spokane, Wash. Regional Championship round on Sunday with a 6-1 victory over Willamette University Saturday afternoon. 

The Bulldogs are one win away from from a trip to the NCAA DIII College World Series in Appleton, Wis. for the third time in school history. TLU finished as the Regional Runner-Ups in 2005 and 2006. 

The Bulldogs now sit 37-9 overall. The Bearcats dropped to 30-18 overall. 

With the loss, Willamette will play in an elimination game on Sunday at 11 a.m. (PDT) against the winner of Saturday's elimination game between Chapman University (Calif.) and University of Texas-Dallas.

The Bulldogs defeated UT Dallas on a run-scoring walk-off single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.

TLU advances to the Spokane Regional Championship round to face the winner of the Willamette v. Chapman/Texas-Dallas winner at 2:30 p.m (PDT) Sunday afternoon. The TLU opponent will be decided following the early game Sunday.

The Bulldogs took the early lead in the first, taking advantage of three walks from WU's Brandon Nelson in the inning. TLU loaded the bases with no outs on a single by Riley Schaefer(Thorndale/Thorndale) and walks by Ben Marvin(Kingwood/Kingwood), Thomas Varner (Austin/Bowie), and Matthew Lemon (Caldwell/Caldwell). The Bearcats got out of the inning while allowing only one run.

TLU extended their 1-0 lead in thr fourth with a three-run rally. Chad Curtis (Wolfforth/Midland JC), Eric Rabinowitz (Schertz/Clemens), and Schaefer each drove in runs for the Bulldogs. 

The Bearcats earned there only run in the sixth off a TLU throwing error. 

Cameron Wilson belted a two-run home run to bring in the final two in the eighth. Wilson finished 1-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBI. 

Designated hitter Keaton Boysen (Scottsdale, Ariz./Gateway CC) went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. 

Landon Weatherly (Granbury/Granbury) notched the win with six innings of work. Weatherly (2-1) allowed four hits and struck out six. He walked just one.  

Dylan Murrell (Tomball/Memorial) tallied his fifth save of the season, throwing the final three innings for the Bulldogs. Murrell scattered two hits and struck out two.