GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Angelo State advanced to Championship Sunday and eliminated top-seeded Colorado Mesa in the process with an 8-6 win on Saturday at the NCAA Division II South Central Championship at Suplizio Field.

Nehwon Norkeh drove in three runs with a bases-clearing double to highlight a seven-run second inning for the Rams and Steve Naemark earned a save after striking out the final out with runners at second and third. ASU, which has battled its way through the tournament after dropping its opener on Thursday, is now moving on while the Mavericks (48-9) had their season end.

"It was a battle beating a great program like Mesa here (on their home field)," ASU head coach Kevin Brooks said. "For us to come in here and do that makes me really proud of our guys. It was obvious from watching this tournament that those guys were not going to quit, but we weren't either. We have a special group that was ready for this game."

ASU (39-16) advances in the regional tournament's final day where it will play Colorado State-Pueblo at 1 p.m. (CDT) on Sunday and will have to go through the ThunderWolves and then St. Mary's to reach the NCAA Division II College World Series. The Rattlers knocked off CSU-Pueblo 6-0 to force a three-team final day.The Rams have won 12 of their last 14 games and are 5-1 in the postseason. ASU is 3-0 against the Rattlers this season after earning a win over them on Friday with a 5-2 extra-inning victory and are 0-1 against the ThunderWolves after a loss on Thursday in the opening game of the regional tournament. 

Angelo State did almost all of its damage against the Mavericks in the top of the second inning with J.C. Snyder and Derek Tyner getting a six-hit, seven-run inning started with a pair of opposite-field singles to right field. After a fielder's choice cut down Snyder at third base, Brett David took a walk to load the bases and then Cody Semler walked with to score the first run. With ASU on the board with one run, David Goggin singled to center field for the next run and the bases were loaded again with Goggin at first, David at third and Semler at second. Norkeh stepped to the plate and drove the ball into the right-center field gap to score three runs to make it 6-1 after Mesa had led 1-0 through the first inning. The Rams would tack on one more run with Paxton DeLaGarza driving in Sam Kohler with a groundout to shortstop to cap a seven-run explosion which would prove to be the deciding factor in the game.

Matt Shannon (4-1) earned the win for the Rams in relief after coming into the game in the third inning after Dillon Becker had coaxed a one-pitch double play to end the second inning and strand two runners on base. Becker had entered the game in relief of starter Bryce Zak who went 1 1/3 innings before turning the ball over to the bullpen with a 7-1 lead. Shannon, who recorded nine straight outs at one point including striking out the side in the fourth, would give the Rams 4 1/3 innings of work in the win with five strikeouts and limited the Mavericks to one run in the third, fourth and seventh before turning the ball over to Naemark who earned his second save of the season.

Naemark entered the game in the bottom of the seventh with one out and two runners on and would record a quick out on a flyout to Kohler at second base and then a four-pitch strikeout to end the inning. The eighth inning was smooth for the Rams with Naemark getting two pop-ups and a groundout before an eventful ninth inning in front of Mesa's home crowd. With an 8-4 lead, Naemark hit the first batter of the inning and then got a flyout to left field. A pair of infield singles – one to second and one to shortstop – loaded the bases and brought up Austin Wallingford who is the NCBWA, RMAC and Daktronics Player of the Year. A right-hander hitter who has 11 home runs this season, Wallingford got two quick strikes on him and then fouled off a pitch down the right field line. On the fourth pitch though, he drove it to the deepest part of Suplizio Field and had everyone in the stands thinking a game-tying grand slam had just been hit. The ball would stay in the ballpark though and was tracked down by Semler who made an impressive catch on the warning track for the second out of the inning, but also brought in a run. An error in center field brought in the sixth run of the game from the Mavericks and runners were on second and third with two outs. Naemark, who is the NCBWA, Daktronics, Lone Star Conference and ABCA/Rawlings South Central Pitcher of the Year, finished it off and stranded the two runners on with a three-pitch strikeout to give the Rams a dramatic win.  

"It was all about making pitches and I just wanted to leave it all out on the field," Naemark said. "If he was going to beat me, I was going to tip my cap but I wasn't going to give it to him easy. I saw it off the bat and knew it was hit really well. That's baseball though. Sometimes it goes and sometimes it doesn't. It was in my favor today and there have been times when it has snuck over the wall. I definitely wasn't going to leave a ball in the zone when I was ahead after that. It wasn't a great feeling seeing that off the bat."

Snyder and Tyner each led the Rams with two-hit games, while Norkeh now has 37 RBI on the season after his bases-clearing 16th double of the season. DeLaGarza went 1-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to eight games, while Snyder, Tyner and Kohler have hit safely in six straight games. The Rams are now 10-8 all-time at the NCAA South Central Championship and are two wins on Sunday away from reaching the NCAA Division II College World Series for the second time in program history.