POINT LOOKOUT, MISSOURI-- The Dallas Christian College Baseball team opened up play in the 2023 NCCAA NDAG Regional Tournament against a familiar opponent in Arlington Baptist. The Crusaders took 3 out of 4 games against ABU in their final home series last weekend. DCC was able to defeat the Patriots for the fourth time this season to move on to the second round of the Regional Tournament.

 The Crusaders jumped on the board early with a 2 run first inning after a 2 RBI single by senior shortstop Marcos Franjul to score Cooper Ness and Brandon Andrews. After two scoreless innings for the Patriots, they stormed back in the top of the third inning to take a 3-2 lead after a sac-fly by Alex Aleman, an RBI single by Wilkerson, and an RBI double by Ochoa. 

It did not take long for DCC to respond as Joel Stone blasted a homerun in th bottom of the fourth inning to knot the game up at 3. After allowing 3 runs in the third inning, Bryce Garza shutdown the ABU offense with 4 scoreless innings to set his team up with a chance to walk it off in the bottom of the 7th inning.

Joel Stone started the final inning with a double to center-field, which was followed by a groundout by Derek Lewis to move the winning run to third base. Travis Whitehurst pinch ran for Stone and represented the winning run at third base with 1 out. Tobin Jones stepped up to the plate as a pinch hitter for Zeke Humek. Jines laid down a stellar bunt to score Whitehurst and send the Crusaders into the second round of the regional tournament. DCC is peaking at the right time as they have now won 13 out of their last 14 games.

Senior shortstop Marcos Franjul went 2 for 3 with 2 RBI's. Joel Stone went 2 for 3 with an RBI and a homerun blast to tie the game at three runs in the fourth inning. Bryce Garza pitched 7 innings, allowing 8 hits, 3 runs, and recorded 3 strkeouts in 30 batters faced. Garza improves to 7-3 on the season with a 3.45 ERA in 75.2 innings pitched on the season. 

The Crusaders will be back in action tomorrow morning at 11:30 a.m. and will either face #1 seed Bible Baptist College or #9 seed Randall University.