The No. 2 seed Cougars (36-20) wasted little time in taking the lead as MVNU took a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Senior shortstop Ross Yoder led off the inning with a double down the leftfield line, moved to third on a wild pitch, and then came around to score on another wild pitch for the first run of the game. Senior designated hitter Marc Hadley (left) added a two-run single, and sophomore catcher Travis McInerney plated the final run of the inning with an RBI-ground out to first.

The Cougars tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the second inning on a run-scoring double by senior third baseman Richey Burgos, an error on the Golden Tornadoes’ defense, and another wild pitch as MVNU built a 7-0 advantage. All three runs came with two outs.

The Cougars added another two-out run in the bottom of the third inning when Estep lined an RBI-single up the middle to extend the lead to 8-0.

Then, in the bottom of the fourth inning, MVNU expanded its lead to 12-0. Sophomore outfielder Kodi Veale, senior outfielder Garret Shivley, and Yoder each had an RBI-single, while the other run came in on another error by Geneva.

The No. 7 seed Golden Tornadoes (17-17) avoided being shut out in the top of the fifth inning when Phil Shallenberger reached on a three-base error by junior outfielder Nick Martindale to start the inning and then came around to score on a ground out by Andy Lubich to make it 12-1.

That would prove to be all the offense for Geneva, though, as Curry retired the final three batters he faced to notch the victory as the 10-run mercy rule was invoked.

Curry (right) (9-3) allowed just two hits - a two-out single in the first inning and a two-out single in the third inning - over five innings with five strikeouts and no walks. The one run was an unearned run. He needed just 59 pitches in the game with 42 of them being strikes. It was Curry’s second straight two-hitter as he blanked Nyack (N.Y.) College 1-0 in his previous outing.

Dave Foss (4-4) suffered the loss for the Golden Tornadoes as he gave up nine hits, five walks, and 12 runs (six earned) over 3.1 innings with one strikeout. Chris Slick recorded the final two outs and allowed one hit.

Offensively, MVNU was led by Yoder, Estep, Hadley, and Shivley with two hits apiece with Hadley driving in two runs and Yoder scoring three runs.

"I was really pleased with the energy that we had as a team tonight,” said MVNU head coach Keith Veale. "Everyone was into the game, and that’s what you need if you are going to make a run in this tournament.”

"Levi did a great job and really had all of his pitches working,” Veale added. "He was attacking the strike zone and did a really nice job. We also got a lot of quality at bats all the way through our lineup. We need to continue to do this as we move along in the tournament.”

The Cougars will now advance to face No. 3 seed Chowan (N.C.) University at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday in the winner’s bracket. Chowan (35-18) edged No. 6 seed Bethel (Ind.) College 4-3 in other action on Wednesday. The other winner’s bracket game slated for Thursday at 1:30 p.m. will be No. 1 seed Malone College versus No. 5 seed Indiana Wesleyan University. Malone rallied for a 7-5 victory over No. 8 seed Oakland City (Ind.) University, while Indiana Wesleyan edged No. 4 Bluefield (Va.) College 4-3.

Earlier on Wednesday, Oakland City downed No. 9 seed Cedarville University and Geneva knocked off No. 10 seed Colorado Christian University 9-5. Then, Bethel edged Colorado Christian 3-2, while Cedarville out-slugged Bluefield 13-10 in a pair of elimination games.

In addition to the winner’s bracket games slated for Thursday afternoon, Bethel and Oakland City will square off at 11:00 a.m. in the loser’s bracket as will Geneva and Cedarville. Two more loser’s bracket games will take place at 7:00 p.m.

MVNU's game versus Chowan at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday and all other Cougar games in the tournament will be broadcast live at http://wnzr.fm/sports.html with James Mummert and Dave Parsons handling the play-by-play and color commentary duties.