Two teams Pacific Lutheran defeated in its first two games at the NCAA D-3 Southern Regional baseball tournament came back to knock the Lutes out of the regional.
The Lutes had beaten Emory 9-6 in its first game at Loudermilk Field at Piedmont College near Atlanta. The Lutes then whipped Birmingham-Southern 7-2 in its second regional game. Senior PLU catcher from Kingston High School, Curtis Wildung, came down with strep throat after the second game and spent some time in the hospital. He missed the Lutes’ final two games, which may have had an impact on what happened.
Birmingham-southern avenged its loss to the Lutes on Friday 7-1 and then Emory gained its revenge by scoring twice in the bottom of the eighth inning to beat the Lutes 7-6 and eliminate them from the tournament. The Lutes had runners on first and third with two out in the top of the night, but a ground out ended the threat.
Emory went on to defeat Birmingham-Southern in the regional title game, 9-5, to advance to its second straight D-3 World Series that will be held in Appleton, Wisconsin.
PLU pitcher Kyle Rossman and shortstop Ben Welch, who collected seven hits in the four games, were named to the All-Tournament team. The Lutes finished the season with a 32-14 record. The 32 wins is the second most in school history.