KANAS CITY, M.O. – One year after falling in the NCCAA Baseball National Championship Series, Southwestern Christian University (SCU) completed the story, taking home their first-ever NCCAA Baseball National Championship on Wednesday, May 22 in Kansas City Missouri, winning a pair of games over top-seeded Oakland City University.

In game one, after Oakland City scored a pair of runs in the first inning, the Eagles scored a run in the bottom of the second and then exploded for six runs in the fourth, punctuated by three straight RBI doubles from Zane Banfield, Joey Thornton, and Draike Sparks to go ahead 7-2. After a sliding catch in centerfield in the top of the frame, Jake Cox delivered on the offensive end in the bottom of the seventh with a two-RBI double and then came around to score later in the inning to push the lead to 10-2. Oakland City scored a trio of runs in the eighth inning and added another in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough, as SCU held on for a 10-6 victory to force a winner-take-all championship final. 
 
In the final game of the tournament, Southwestern Christian came out of the gate hot, taking a 1-0 lead thanks to an RBI single from Matys Gagnon in the top of the first inning. Oakland City scored five straight runs to take the lead, but a single by Joseph Boone in the fifth and a pair of runs in the seventh cut the lead to one, and an RBI double down the left field line from Tyler Reeves tied the game at five in the eighth inning. Reeves came around to score later in the frame, as an RBI double from Dario Paredes gave Southwestern Christian a 6-5 lead. The Mighty Oaks threatened in the ninth, but Matt Gamblin was able to force a groundball to end the game, and Southwestern Christian clinched their first-ever NCCAA Baseball National Championship.

The sixth-seeded Eagles opened their time in Kansas City with a pair of upsets, first knocking off three-seeded University of Fort Lauderdale 9-5 on day one. Draike Sparks ignited the offense for SCU, going 4-for-6 with two RBI, a home run, and one run scored in the victory. The upset-minded Eagles continued to roll on day two, as an RBI triple from Braden Browning in the seventh inning gave Southwestern Christian the 9-8 win over two-seed Concordia University Ann Arbor. 
 
SCU looked to continue their warpath, scoring eight runs in the top of the first on day three against Oakland City. The Mighty Oaks however shut down the Southwestern Christian offense the rest of the game, sending the Eagles to the loser’s bracket with an 11-8 come-from-behind win. Southwestern Christian kept their championship hopes alive, knocking off College of the Ozarks with a 10-0 win in seven innings in an elimination game to punch their ticket to the National Championship Series. 
 
Southwestern Christian’s Gabriel Figueroa was named the Tournament Most Outstanding Player. The remaining All-Tournament Team members and other award winners are listed here.
 
Full results with box scores are posted here.