COLLEGE BASEBALL: King headed back to NCCAA World Series

It took two, but King College got its title.

The chumps of April, the Tornado became the champs of May, defeating Covenant 6-2 on Friday – after falling to the Scots earlier in the day – to earn its second consecutive National Christian College Athletic Association Mid-East Regional baseball tournament crown and a return trip to the NCCAA World Series.

No. 3 seeded King (26-23) ended last month on a 10-game slide, but hadn’t lost in five May games until No. 6 Covenant (27-16) picked up a 3-2 win to start the day, forcing a winner-take-all rematch for the regional title.

“It hasn’t been easy all year … but we got it done,” said King coach Mac McClarrinon.

Senior Steven Mueller came through with two hits and an RBI in the finale, but his most impressive contribution was a graceful baserunning move worthy of a prima ballerina.

After doubling to start the second, Mueller advanced to third on Doug Freeman’s single and then scored when Josh Huffman pushed a bunt to the right side.

Mueller looked to be out by a mile at the plate, but he altered his slide at the last second to come home safe for the first run of the game.

“I saw where he was coming in for the tag and I just popped up around him and stuck my hand through,” Mueller said. “I love popping. I love popping around tags. I hate sliding in straight.”

King added a second run in the inning on Shane Timberlake’s sacrifice fly.

Although Covenant would tie things up with two runs of its own the in the bottom half of the frame, the Tornado scored one run in each of the next four innings to pull away for the title.

Freeman had two hits in the clincher after hitting his first home run of the season earlier in the day, and Timberlake and Garrett Cook hit back-to-back doubles in the sixth for King’s final run.

The Tornado went all out its championship celebration after reliever Nick Melcher got pinch hitter Caleb Abney to fly out to center field to end the game.

Along with a team dog pile as “We are the Champions” played over the PA system at the field, both Mueller and McClarrinon got buckets-of-ice-water baths following the victory as King reveled in getting to make a return trip to Mason, Ohio, just north of Cincinnati, for next week’s Christian college World Series.

“It means so much because we’ve worked our butts off with so many freshman and new guys just to get back to Cincy,” Mueller said. “The season we’ve had, this is a great way to end it.”

King’s six-run output in the final game of the tournament was a veritable offensive explosion for the Tornado, who had scored just 11 runs in its first four games of the week.

King, however, allowed just seven runs in its five regional games, getting two shutouts to open the tournament and a final strong pitching effort in the clincher from Dustin Pannell, who gave up just two runs and five hits in five and 2/3 innings in his first start of the season Friday.

“In any tournament in the end when people are out of pitching, you’ve just got to swing it,” McClarrinon said. “We’ve got a good offensive team. It’s just a matter of when we click.”

In Friday’s opener, the two teams combined for just seven hits. Covenant jumped out to 3-0 lead after two innings and King was unable to catch up despite Heath Williams’ RBI double in the fifth and Freeman’s solo shot an inning later.

But as it proved with its performance this month, the Tornado knows how to bounce back from adversity.

King will now try to improve on its showing at last year’s NCCAA World Series where it went just 1-2 as the No. 8 seed in the 10-team tournament.

And every extra game King gets to play this May will be another chance for the Tornado to improve in anticipation of its first season next year in Conference Carolinas, the school’s first NCAA Division II league.

“We’re just getting them ready for what’s coming for the conference next year,” Mueller said about his young teammates. “I wasn’t fortunate enough to play in it this year, but they’re going to be ready for it next year.”

nhubbard@bristolnews.com | Twitter: @Hubbard_BHCSprt | (276) 645-2543