After getting a two-hitter and the first shutout of senior right-hander Jason Decker’s four-year career in Wednesday’s opening 5-0 victory over No. 6 seed Cedarville University, defending NCCAA national champion MVNU (35-19) turned the ball over to freshman right-hander Kyle Barr (left) to get the job done against Spring Arbor (31-14), which received votes in the final NAIA poll and participated in the NAIA World Series the previous two years. Spring Arbor is also coached by former MVNU coach Sam Riggleman, who posted a 226-144 record with the Cougars from 1980-1988.

Barr (4-1), who was making just his third career start after 13 appearances out of the bullpen this year, followed Decker’s lead as he tossed a two-hitter of his own and posted the team’s second straight shutout and his second shutout of the season. He had a no-hitter through 5.2 innings before Eric Vojkofsky grounded a single under the glove of a diving Michael Hendren through the right side of the infield. Lucas Rider led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a line drive single to rightfield for the other hit. Barr finished with six strikeouts, two walks, and four hit batsmen in his 95-pitch complete game performance.

The game was scoreless through the first four innings as Spring Arbor’s Jesse Bachman, an NAIA Honorable Mention All-American last year, matched Barr by allowing just three hits through the first two innings - a single and a double to Hendren, a sophomore second baseman, and a two-out single to sophomore outfielder Steve Williams in the fourth inning.

Then, in the top of the fifth inning, the Cougars finally broke through against Bachman (4-3). Freshman outfielder Chaz Gibson (right) led off the inning with a long home run to leftfield to give MVNU a 1-0 lead. The homer was Gibson’s team-leading eighth of the year and only the fifth home run allowed in 52.1 innings by Bachman at that point.

Two outs later, junior outfielder Kodi Veale launched a solo home run of his own to right center to increase the lead to 2-0. The round-tripper was Veale’s fourth of the year and his second off Bachman after hitting a two-run, game-winning shot in extra innings in the Cougars’ 4-2 victory back on March 19 during the team’s annual spring trip to Florida.

The score was still 2-0 when MVNU came to bat in the top of the seventh inning. Once again, Gibson led off the frame, but this time he hit an opposite-field home run to right to push the lead to 3-0 with his ninth homer of the season.

And just like two innings before, Veale came to the plate with two outs and no one on and ripped a line drive homer that just cleared the wall in rightfield as the Cougars extended their lead to 4-0 with his fifth blast of the year.

The two insurance runs proved to be very beneficial for MVNU as Spring Arbor mounted its biggest threat of the game in the bottom of the seventh inning. Rider led off the inning with his single to right and Kreg Bawks came in as a courtesy runner at first base. After Jeff Hollister drew a walk, both runners moved up on a throwing error by Barr as he tried to pick Bawks off second base.

Barr settled down after that as he struck out Ryan Marken looking for the first out of the inning. Then, Andy Paulun hit a grounder off the handle of the bat back to Barr. Barr looked Bawks back at third base and tossed to freshman Josh Roberts at first base for the second out of the inning. Roberts came up firing at first and threw behind Bawks at third base where junior Matt Parks applied a tag to complete the double play and end the game with MVNU posting the 4-0 victory.

Bachman, who is now 35-10 in 51 appearances during his illustrious career, suffered the loss as he allowed seven hits, three walks, and four runs over seven innings with seven strikeouts. The four home runs that he surrendered during the game equaled the same number that he had allowed during 48.1 innings all season coming into the contest. In fact, five of the eight home runs Bachman has now given up this year have come against the Cougars with three belonging to Veale (left) and two to Gibson.

“Kyle did a great job for us on the mound tonight,” said MVNU coach Keith Veale. “He worked ahead in the count for the most part and was able to throw three different pitches for strikes and really kept the hitters off balance. Chaz and Kodi did a great job of getting good swings at some pitches they could handle. Right before we started the fifth inning, we talked about looking for pitches to drive and both of them executed that plan to perfection.”

“We need to carry the momentum from this win into our next game against another very good team,” Veale added. “We will need another great effort on the mound, solid defense, and consistent at bats all throughout our lineup to keep this tournament run going. While this was a great win against a good team tonight, we have to come back ready to play again tomorrow.”

With the victory, MVNU will now advance to the winner’s bracket championship game at 1:00 p.m. on Friday at Prasco Park against No. 4 seed Bluefield (Va.) College (36-140, who knocked off No. 1 seed Malone University 5-0 in the other winner’s bracket game on Thursday. The winner of that game will be the lone undefeated team remaining in the tournament and will play again at 7:30 p.m., while the loser will return to action at 4:15 p.m.

Friday’s action will get under way with a pair of loser’s bracket games at 10:00 a.m. when Malone will square off with Cedarville and Spring Arbor will face No. 10 seed Colorado Christian University as the field will be whittled down to four teams and then re-seeded prior to the 4:15 p.m. game to keep teams from facing a team that they have previously played if at all possible.

In other action on Thursday, Cedarville won two games in the loser’s bracket by first eliminating No. 7 seed Oklahoma Wesleyan University 8-5 and then bouncing No. 8 seed Geneva (Pa.) College 5-2 to stay alive. No. 5 seed Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) University knocked No. 9 seed Palm Beach Atlantic (Fla.) University out 6-2 before falling to Colorado Christian 8-6.

Both of MVNU’s games on Friday will be broadcast online at http://media.mvnu.edu:8060/wnzrsports.m3u and fans can also follow along with the action on the tournament website at http://www.prascopark.com/default.asp?contentid=36.