AUSTIN – The Texas Lutheran Bulldogs won their eighth American Southwest Conference West Division Championship in 10 years by completing a three-game sweep Saturday against the Concordia Texas Tornados.
After Friday's 10-3 win over Concordia Texas, the Bulldogs took 4-3 and 11-9 victories Saturday at Tornado Field.
Jeremiah Steinert (Sugar Land/Dulles) tossed his fourth consecutive complete game in the early victory, and Sean Madden (Durham, N.C./Lenoir Rhyne) kept the Bulldogs in the second game with 5-2/3 innings of effective relief. Steinert improved to 7-2, and Madden moved to 2-1.
TLU finished the regular season with a 29-11 overall record and a 15-6 ASC West Division mark. Concordia ended the year with a 15-24 overall record and an 8-13 mark in the ASC West.
TLU won the ASC West outright after entering the three-game series in a two-way tie for first with Hardin-Simmons. After TLU and HSU each won on Friday, TLU’s two wins on Saturday, coupled with HSU’s two losses on Saturday, gave TLU the division title by two games. HSU, Mary Hardin-Baylor and McMurry finished in a three-way tie for second.
TLU will host a best 2-of-3 divisional series against the No. 4 seed from the ASC East, the University of Texas at Dallas. The division series will take place at TLU's Katt-Isbel Field. The series will be played on Friday and Saturday with game times to be determined.
In Saturday’s doubleheader sweep of Concordia Texas, TLU trailed early in both contests. In game one, the Bulldogs fell behind 1-0 before taking a 4-1 lead on fourth-inning RBI from Chris Green (Austin/Bowie/Concordia Texas), Jason McGill (San Antonio/Churchill), and Evan Curtis (Dallas/Lake Highlands). The Bulldogs’ first run of the game came with the help of three Concordia errors in the third inning.
In game two, the Bulldogs fell behind 7-2 before scoring nine runs combined in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings. Andrew Femath (El Paso/Montwood/Howard JC) and Ryan Nokelby (Santa Fe/Santa Fe) hit back-to-back home runs in the three-run seventh.
Clay Childress (Houston/Jersey Village/Eastfield JC) finished game two with three hits and three RBI. Femath scored three times and drove in a pair, and Brian Wheaton (Ashburn, Va./Stone Bridge) and Curtis each had two hits. Cody Miller (New Braunfels/New Braunfels) and Nokelby each scored twice.
Madden struck out four in relief of starter Travis Staggs (San Antonio/Western Texas JC). Madden allowed four hits and two earned runs.
Tom Hembree recorded the final two outs in game two for his fifth save of the season. Hembree (Burnet/Burnet) struck out one and allowed one hit.
TLU won every series in ASC West play during 2010. The sweep of Concordia was TLU’s first division sweep of the season. TLU has won the previous six ASC West series by counts of two games to one.
The Bulldogs, the preseason favorite in the ASC West, won the division crown for the second consecutive year. TLU now has ASC West titles for 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2010. The 2010 title is the second for Head Coach Greg Burnett and his staff.
-Courtesy Texas Lutheran Sports Information Department