CLEBURNE, Texas – The University of St. Thomas' first-ever trip to the postseason Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament ended Saturday, but not before the Celts claimed the first postseason victory in their modern history.
The Celts fended off elimination in their first game Saturday with a dramatic 5-4 victory over the tournament's second-seeded team, Texas Lutheran. The win put the Celts in the elimination bracket final, which saw Trinity (Texas) defeat the Houstonians 11-1 in eight innings.
UST rallied for four runs in the eighth and ninth innings to stun TLU in the tournament's second game of the afternoon. The win over TLU was the first for the Celts in seven tries dating back to last season.
Starting pitcher Chris Parsons earned his third win in as many starts as he tossed eight innings and struck out seven batters while scattering seven hits and two earned runs. Kameron Craig earned his third save of the season with a hitless ninth inning in which he struck out two batters.
Over his last four starts of the season, Parsons (6-4) allowed only five earned runs over 32 innings – good for a 1.41 ERA – and struck out 35 batters. That run started with a school-record 14 strikeouts over nine innings against Southwestern on April 14.
UST's Tristan Pitkin went 1-for-3 with a two-RBI single in the top of the eighth inning that ignited the Celts' rally. Leo Galvan and Cameron McClure knocked in runs in the ninth inning to give the Celts their first lead of the tournament; Galvan's one-out double to left-centerfield scored Noah Martinez, while McClure's hit two batters later sent pinch-runner Timmy Mansell across the plate with the winning run.
Jason Brown put the Celts on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth inning with a bases-loaded walk that cut TLU's lead to 2-1.
Prior to the Celts' comeback, TLU pitchers Zach Longshore and Brendan Beard had combined for 11 strikeouts over eight innings. Reliever Blade Strzelczyk came into the game in the ninth inning but was met with back-to-back singles from Martinez and Erik Garza before Galvan tied the game with his double.
Not only was the win UST's first in a baseball postseason since the university revived the program after a 51-year absence in 2020, it gave the Celts (18-25) an added element of revenge against the Bulldogs, who swept the season series between the two teams in 2021 and 2022.
TLU's sweep in early April started an eight-game conference losing streak for the Celts which required them to win six of their last seven SCAC games to qualify for the postseason.
The win gave the Celts the right to face Trinity, the No. 12 team in the nation in the latest d3baseball.com poll and the tournament's top seed. The Tigers found themselves in an elimination game after falling to third-seeded Centenary (La.) in Saturday's first contest.
Trinity (31-9) opened the scoring with six runs in the fourth inning. The Tigers then added three in the fifth and two more in the eighth.
Galvan scored the Celts' lone run in the bottom of the eighth inning on a wild pitch. Luke Sebesta was the pitcher of record for the Celts.
Though the end of head coach David Wood's first season was less than ideal, the Celts generated excitement in their run to the tournament over the last three weeks of the season. Their win Saturday was also marked the first time since 2013 that a SCAC team other than Trinity, Southwestern, TLU or Centenary had won a game at the conference tournament.
