(Photo by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com)

APPLETON, Wis. -- The University of Texas at Tyler won the first game of the NCAA Division III Baseball National Championship best-of-three series with an 8-1 victory Tuesday afternoon over Texas Lutheran University.

UT Tyler (39-18) needs a win in the second half of Tuesday's doubleheader to claim its first-ever NCAA Division III national title in baseball. Both the Patriots and the Bulldogs are playing in their first-ever NCAA DIII Baseball World Series.

The second national championship game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start.

The Bulldogs need a win in Tuesday's second game to force the "if necessary" contest, set for an 11 a.m. first pitch on Wednesday.

TLU (42-11) fell behind early against the Patriots. UT Tyler scored two in the first and then five in the fifth.

Blake Wilson tripled for the Patriots in the first inning to score two. Jared Pauley and Josh Burns each added a pair of RBI in the fourth.

Pauley, the UT Tyler lead-off hitter, went 3-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBI. He also walked twice. Burns drove in three.

Simon Sedillo hurled a complete-game, six-hitter for UT Tyler. The senior right-hander improved to 9-3. He allowed only one earned run. Sedillo struck out five and did not issue a walk.

Bulldog junior right-hander Nathan Malinovsky (New Braunfels/New Braunfels) took the mound at the start and pitched only one inning before departing. Malinovsky allowed the two runs in the first. He dropped to 12-2.

TLU cut the Patriots' early 2-0 lead to 2-1 with a Ben Marvin (Kingwood/Kingwood) single to left field. The hit scored Riley Schaefer (Thorndale/Thorndale), who doubled high off the left field wall.

Schaefer's double was his 94th hit of the year. He broke the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference record for single-season hits after already securing the TLU single-season record on Sunday.

Cody Rimko (Lewisville/Lewisville) tossed six innings in relief for TLU. The junior right-hander gave up just one run. He walked two and struck out two.

For the NCAA DIII Baseball Championship, links to all live video, live stats and KWED 1580 AM audio webcasts can be found at www.tlubulldogs.com.