ENID, Okla. - Carver Rademacher hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning and Yumezo Densaki continued his dominance of Arkansas-Monticello as Southern Arkansas completed a dramatic run from the loser's bracket to win its third consecutive Great American Conference Baseball Championship, 6-2, on Tuesday from David Allen Memorial Ballpark.
#3 SOUTHERN ARKANSAS 6, #2 ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO 2 || BOX SCORE
Carver Rademacher hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning and Yumezo Densaki continued his dominance of Arkansas-Monticello as Southern Arkansas completed a dramatic run from the loser's bracket to win its third consecutive Great American Conference Baseball Championship, 6-2, on Tuesday from David Allen Memorial Ballpark.
Densaki improved to 3-0 with a 0.78 ERA in three starts against the Boll Weevils (36-15). After surrendering runs in the first and fourth innings, he retired 16 of the last 19 innings, including a strikeout of Ben Agredano to clinch the victory for the Muleriders (38-17).
Prior to Rademacher's blast, Tournament MVP Trevor Rucker opened the seventh inning with a walk. He stole second and third in front of the home run. For the tournament, Rucker, the GAC's Freshman of the Year, hit three home runs and drove in seven during the tournament. He stole three bases and provided the game-winning hit on Monday against top-seeded Arkansas Tech.
SAU added insurance runs in the eighth and ninth innings. Josh Rodriguez scored on a throwing in the eighth and Jackson McCurdy homered with one out in the ninth.
The Muleriders locked up their seventh straight NCAA Tournament berth by securing the GAC's first-ever automatic bid. Arkansas-Monticello entered the tournament ranked third in the NCAA Division II Central Region rankings and Arkansas Tech held down the top spot. These teams will learn their postseason destination during the NCAA.com Selection Show, set for Sunday at 9 p.m.
2014 GAC BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Trevor Rucker (Southern Arkansas) - MVP
Yumezo Densaki (Southern Arkansas)
Carver Rademacher (Southern Arkansas)
Preston Gray (Southern Arkansas)
Dylan Lynn (Southern Arkansas)
Travis Steinke (Arkansas-Monticello)
Ray Johnson (Arkansas-Monticello)
Evan Comeau (Arkansas-Monticello)
Collin Campbell (Harding)
Noah Chandler (Harding)
Landon Moore (Ouachita Baptist)
Chris Tavares (Ouachita Baptist)
James Sharp (Arkansas Tech)
#3 SOUTHERN ARKANSAS 4, #4 HARDING 3 || BOX SCORE
Earlier Tuesday, Rademacher slugged a two-run home run in the first inning to provide Southern Arkansas an early lead and the pitching efforts of Dylan Lynn, Colton Strother and Timothy Buchanan carried the Muleriders back to the GAC Tournament title game in a 4-3 victory against Harding.
Rachemacher led SAU (37-17) as he went 2-for-4 with the home runs and two runs scored. Zack Costa also turned a multi-hit effort, going 2-4 with a double and an RBI.
After going hitless through the first four innings Harding (28-24) put the lead off runner on in four of the final five innings. The Bisons failed to score and left two on the fifth, the bases loaded in the sixth, two on in the seventh after scoring twice, one on in the eighth and one on in the ninth. For the game. Harding left 10 on base and went just 2-for-10 with runners on base.
Lynn allowed two runs in 6.2 innings of work to improve to 10-1. Buchanan, who pitched SAU to a victory against Ouachita Baptist on Sunday, pitched the ninth to earn his first save. Strother provided the bridge from Lynn to Buchanan by logging 1.1 innings of relief.
The Muleriders will meet Arkansas-Monticello in the GAC Baseball title game at 3:30 p.m. SAU beat the Boll Weevils, 11-2, in last year's final.