Box Score HATTIESBURG, Miss. - For the sixth time in school history, the St. Thomas University baseball team will be heading to the NAIA World Series after a 6-3 win over William Carey in the championship game of the NAIA National Championship Opening Round late Wednesday night.

The top seeded Bobcats (56-7), ranked no. 3 in the nation by the NAIA Coaches Top 25 poll, won the Hattiesburg Bracket by sweeping their competition with a 3-0 record at the five-team, double-elimination tournament.  

St. Thomas will now head to the  NAIA World Series to be held May 25 - June 1 at Harris Field in Lewiston, Idaho. 

In Wednesday night's championship game, STU had the opportunity to clinch the Opening Round championship, while no. 5 seed and tournament host William Carey (36-25) needed to defeat the Bobcats twice.  

The two teams were scoreless through three innings until the Bobcats got their offense rolling in the fourth.  Jackie Urbaez recorded STU's first hit of the contest with a single in which was followed by Nelson Mompierre reaching base on a hit by pitch.  Chris Garabedian (3-4) singled to load the bases for Oscar Rodriguez who drew an RBI walk to score Urbaez and give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead.  With two outs and the bases loaded, Nick Izquierdo (2-4, 2 RBI) then belted a two-RBI double to score Mompierre and Garabedian, giving STU a 3-0 lead.

WCU responded with two runs in the top of the fifth to cut STU's lead to one run.  The Crusaders then tied the game in the top of the seventh at 3-3.

The tie score did not last for long as the bottom of the seventh proved to be the difference for the Bobcats.  Izquierdo led off the frame with a double, then was pinch run for by Gus Guerra.  A beautifully executed sacrifice bunt by Daniel Lowry then advanced Guerra to third base.  That brought up the Bobcats's lead off hitter Erick Delgado with one out.  Delgado promptly blasted a two-run home run to left field to give St. Thomas a 5-3 lead.

STU would add an insurance run in the eighth inning as Lowry drew a bases-loaded walk to make the score 6-3.

Closer Erne Valdes had entered the game with two outs in the seventh inning and was brilliant as he closed out the game with five strikeouts to notch the victory.  Valdes retired seven straight batters to end the game, not allowing a hit over his 2.1 innings pitched.  

In the ninth, Valdes struck out the first two batters he faced to bring the Bobcats one out away from punching their ticket to Idaho.  The WCU batter hit the Valdes offering softly to right field where outfielder Sergio Lopez made the final out, setting off the celebration for the Bobcats.

Ian Exposito started the game for STU and went five innings allowing two runs on four hits and striking out four.  Tyler Morales allowed one run on one hit with two strikeouts over 1.2 innings before handing the ball to Valdes to close out the win.

This year's Bobcat team, under the direction of Head Coach Jorge Perez, has already broken the school records for most wins in a season (previous: 54 wins, 1998) and highest winning percentage (.889).  Statistically as a team, STU leads the nation in runs scored, hits and RBI, while ranking second in the country in batting average and slugging percentage.  Second baseman Jackie Urbaez leads the nation in runs scored, while starting pitcher Orlando Rodriguez (14-0) leads the NAIA in wins.  Earlier this season, the Bobcats won the regular-season Sun Conference Championship with a 22-2 record in conference play.  Jorge Perez was named Sun Conference Coach of the Year and outfielder/catcher Nelson Mompierre was named Sun Conference Player of the Year, while seven Bobcats were named First-Team All-Conference.
 
The Bobcats will now return home to Miami Gardens before heading to the NAIA World Series to be held May 25 - June 1 at Harris Field in Lewiston, Idaho.  The ten-team, double-elimination tournament is comprised of nine NAIA National Championship Opening and host Lewis-Clark State.  The NAIA World Series bracket is still to be announced.  Stay tuned to www.stubobcats.com for more info.  The games will be broadcast live (pay-per-view) on the NAIA Network.  For more information on the NAIA World Series, go to www.naiaworldseries.com