The No. 2 seed Cougars (37-20) wasted no time in taking the lead in the game as senior shortstop Ross Yoder drew a lead-off walk in the top of the first inning. Senior outfielder Garret Shivley reached on a fielder’s choice with Yoder being forced out at second. Senior third baseman Richey Burgos followed with a single to shallow leftfield, and junior second baseman Josh Estep (left) plated Shivley with an RBI-single through the right side of the infield with Burgos advancing all the way to third. Senior designated player Marc Hadley capped off the inning with a sacrifice fly to centerfield as MVNU took a 2-0 lead.

After the NCAA Division II Hawks (35-19) were retired in the bottom of the first inning, the Cougars went back to work in the top of the second inning. With one out, sophomore outfielder Kodi Veale and freshman outfielder Steve Williams each singled and Yoder was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Shivley drove in a run when he reached on a fielding error, and Burgos made it 4-0 when he plated a run with a fielder’s choice.

Chowan threatened in the bottom of the second inning with a pair of one-out singles. However, the threat ended when Matt Crane grounded into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Hawks were finally able to get on the scoreboard. Billy Walling led off with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch, and came around to score on an RBI-double by Joey Ryder. Following a pop-up to shallow leftfield, Brandon Hamlett reached on a throwing error by Yoder. That allowed Crane to cut the deficit in half with a sacrifice fly to make the score 4-2.

MVNU got the runs back in the top of the sixth inning. With one out, Veale and Williams both singled and Yoder followed with an RBI-single to plate Veale. After an infield single by Shivley loaded the bases, Burgos extended the lead to 6-2 with a run-scoring ground out.

A pair of singles and an error allowed Chowan to load the bases with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning. However, once again, Crane grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning as the Cougars increased their school-record total to 71 double plays on the year.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Hawks were determined to not go down without a fight. Jordan Whitlatch led off with a line drive single off the glove of MVNU junior right-hander Jason Decker. After Whitlatch was forced out at second on David Hughes’ ground ball to the shortstop hole that Yoder made a nice play on, Zack Beasley followed with a double to rightfield with Hughes coming in to score when Williams’ throw got away from Estep as Chowan cut the lead to 6-3.

P.J. Sadler struck out looking for the second out of the inning, but Walling drew a walk to bring the potential tying run to the plate. However, Decker got Ryder to ground to Yoder for the final out as the Cougars improved to 2-0 in the tournament to advance to the winner’s bracket championship - handing head coach Keith Veale a nice birthday present with the victory.

Decker (right) (8-6) picked up the win as he scattered nine hits, two walks, three runs (only one earned) over seven innings with five strikeouts. The complete game was the 11th of season for Decker as he joined Andy Heimbach and Nick Schwartz as the only three MVNU pitchers since 1991 to record that many complete games.

Brian Hill (4-3) took the loss for Chowan as he gave up 11 hits, one walk, and six runs over 5.1 innings with two strikeouts. John Morris tossed the final 1.2 innings and allowed just one hit with one strikeout.

Offensively, Williams went 3-for-3 with two runs scored to lead the Cougars, while Yoder was 2-for-2, walked, and was hit by a pitch. Veale also added two hits and two runs scored, and Burgos drove in two runs.

The Hawks were led by Ryder and Hamlett who both had two hits. Chowan stranded eight base runners in the game and hit into two inning-ending double plays.

MVNU will now advance to the winner’s bracket championship game at 11:00 a.m. on Friday. The Cougars will have a familiar opponent in that game in top seed Malone College (41-14). The two teams have played eight times already this season with each team winning four times. The Pioneers advanced to the winner’s bracket championship game with a 13-6 win over No. 5 seed Indiana Wesleyan University on Thursday. All the action on Friday can be heard at http://wnzr.fm/sports.html with James Mummert and Dave Parsons calling the action.

In loser’s bracket play on Thursday, No. 7 seed Geneva (Pa.) College rallied to eliminate No. 9 seed Cedarville University 10-8, while No. 6 Bethel (Ind.) College ended No. 8 Oakland City University’s season with a 10-5 win. Bethel will take on Indiana Wesleyan and Geneva will square off with Chowan on Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m.

After Friday’s game between MVNU and Malone, there will be games at 1:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. with the schedule to be determined by the teams left in the tournament.