The UT Tyler Patriots got the most out of their final day of the season at Irwin Field, withstanding 23 innings of baseball to reach the championship round of the American Southwest Conference tournament.

Hardin-Simmons forced a deciding third game of their first round series with an epic 6-5 win in 14 innings, before the Patriots, behind the strong starting pitching of Bryan Shore and sparkling defense of third baseman T.J. Martin, took a 3-1 victory on Saturday.

The 18th-ranked Patriots (33-10) advance to final stage of the ASC tournament, a four-team, double-elimination bracket beginning Friday at Concordia Texas’ Tornado Field in Austin. UT Tyler will face ASC West Division champion Concordia (33-9) in the second game Friday, following a matchup between Mississippi College and McMurry.

It’s the fourth time in five years UT Tyler, which will be gunning for its third conference title, has reached the championship round.

“That’s a long day of baseball,” Patriots coach Paul Wyczawski said. “It’s hot out here, you’re fighting for your life, it’s the last game of the season if you lose. Great job by our guys staying in it and fighting through all that tiredness.”

Shore (2-2), a senior right-hander from Longview, tossed eight shutout innings. He scattered five hits, struck out four and walked one.

“It feels good … my senior year at Irwin Field going out in style,” Shore said. “The inside fastball was a huge part of my game, and the breaking ball to start the count really helped. It really got them off-balance and helped set up my inside fastball, and they were popping it up.”

Shore also induced nine ground-ball outs, four of them gobbled up by Martin, who was named the series’ Most Outstanding Player.

“Oh, my gosh … that dude is amazing,” Shore said of his third baseman. “He’s by far the best player I’ve played with or even seen. He’s a true, top-notch athlete and he deserves some recognition for sure.”

Martin also turned a pair of key double plays, including an acrobatic effort in the fifth.

With UT Tyler nursing a 2-0 lead, a balk moved runners to second and third with one out for Hardin-Simmons (20-20). Martin leapt high in the air to snag a line drive off the bat of Austin Cantwell, and then beat the runner back to third to end the inning.

“He’s the best, he’s the best,” Wyczawski said. “He could play big-league baseball right now defensively. Our guys just smile every time he makes a big play, but they don’t go overboard because he does it all the time.”

Martin had just two hits in 11 at-bats on the day, but the junior from Plano was rewarded for his defense.

“It’s very special,” Martin said. “To be honest, I wasn’t expected to get it … it shows that defensive play can win an MVP.”

Martin did single home the game’s first run in the opening inning. Aaron McCain’s RBI triple in the second and Hayden Chick’s RBI double in the fifth pushed the Patriots’ lead to 3-0.

Jacob Yanker gave up a run in the ninth, but recorded the final three outs for the save.

In the Game 2 of the series, UT Tyler rallied to tie the game in the ninth by scoring three runs with two outs. Billy Lirely’s two-run single sent the game into extra innings.

“We’ve done that a few times this year, coming from behind,” Wyczawski said. “The expectation is to score runs at any given time. It was just fun to see them do it one more time.”

McCain gave the Patriots a 5-4 lead in the top of the 13th inning when his ground ball up the middle kicked over the glove of Hardin-Simmons shortstop Marcus Uechi and into center field, but the Cowboys evened it up in the bottom half on Jon Finney’s bloop single off UT Tyler closer Derek Miller.

Hardin-Simmons got the winning run an inning later when Jason Vause singled to shallow center off Chase Willard (4-3), scoring Ryan Reagor.

The clutch hit saved the Cowboys’ season, but only for nine more innings.

“We definitely showed our true colors today,” Martin said. “We came out with intensity after that long, 14-inning game. We were down a little bit after the loss, but before the game we went into the team huddle and came together.”

———

ASC Baseball Tournament First Round

(Best-of-three series)

At Irwin Field

Game 2

Hardin-Simmons 6, No. 18 UT Tyler 5, 14 innings

UT Tyler 010 000 003 000 10 – 5 14 0

Hardin-Simmons 000 030 010 000 11 – 6 18 3

Michael Blevins, Parker Sheets (6), Derek Miller (13), Chase Willard (14) and Hayden Chick; Blake Sieck, James Simmons (9), Tyler Brunnemann (13) and Chris Matthews.

W – Brunnemann (3-1). L – Willard (4-3).

2B – UTT: Garrett Machacek. HSU: Troy Nicholson.

SH – UTT: Josh Bates. HSU: Jay Hiller, Ryan Reagor, Bryan Blare, Jason Vause. SB – HSU: Vause.

ATT. – 502.

Game 3

No. 18 UT Tyler 3, Hardin-Simmons 1

Hardin-Simmons 000 000 001 – 1 7 0

UT Tyler 110 010 00x – 3 6 0

Nicholson, Simmons (5) and Matthews; Bryan Shore, Jacob Yanker (9) and Chick.

W – Shore (2-2). L – Nicholson (4-5). S – Yanker (3).

2B – HSU: Andrew Rehling. UTT: Chick. 3B – UTT: Aaron McCain.

SH – UTT: Machacek. SB – UTT: McCain, Jake Ashley.

RECORDS – Hardin-Simmons 20-20; UT Tyler 33-10.

NEXT UP – Hardin-Simmons’ season complete; UT Tyler vs. Concordia Texas, TBD Friday, ASC tournament championship round, Tornado Field, Austin.

ATT. – 433.