Game Recap By Mason Nesbitt, TMU Sports Information Director

IRVINE — As Master’s prepared to open its conference tournament here this week, a former Major League Baseball player published a public service announcement.

“To all my #MLB scouting friends, someone needs to give this kid a chance. You can’t make these numbers up,” tweeted Danny Sheaffer, the parent of two former Mustangs and a seven-year veteran of MLB.

Teams at the Golden State Athletic Conference tournament have been loath to offer Aaron Shackelford even a chance to hit. But when the senior shortstop hasn’t been intentionally walked, he’s made good on Sheaffer’s faith.

Shackelford hit a two-run, walk-off single Tuesday, lifting the Mustangs to a dramatic 7-6 win over Arizona Christian in an elimination game in OC Great Park.

The Mustangs’ late rally came against one of the NAIA’s best closers, River Carbone, and it propelled them into a rematch with Westmont on Wednesday at 2 p.m.

Shackelford’s base hit made a winner of Kyle Adkins, who tossed a 143-pitch complete game for his 10th win of the year, and sent Will Batz (pictured above) speeding around from second to score the day’s final run.

The game was a showcase for Batz, who finished a double short of hitting for the cycle and made a leaping catch near the wall in right. More than that, it was an important game for the Mustangs in terms of their postseason resume.

Both TMU and ACU entered the day with similar bodies of work, with the NAIA’s at-large selections due for release next week.

With the win, Master’s won the season series, 3-2, and improved to 33-16-1. Arizona Christian, ranked No. 25 in the NAIA poll released Tuesday, fell to 38-19.

A day after the Mustangs used three pitchers extensively in a 12-inning loss to Westmont, Adkins gave his team two things it desperately needed: quality and length.

The right-hander employed a vicious slider early and a live two-seam fastball late, always around the zone. He struck out seven, walked two and allowed six runs. Only two of the runs were earned, though, as Master’s made a pair of errors that opened the door for four unearned runs in the fifth.

Adkins refused to be rattled.

Before Tuesday, the best outing of Adkins’ pitching career came against Arizona Christian on Feb. 22 when he tossed a complete-game, three-hitter.

This effort held more weight.

“I don’t feel it right now,” Adkins said when asked how his arm felt. “All I feel is the joy and the happiness.”

With Master’s trailing 6-5 in the ninth, Jeremiah Farris dunked a lead-off single into center field. Carbone plunked Batz with a two-strike pitch. And Anthony Lepre reached on an infield single, setting the stage for a showdown between one of the NAIA’s leader in saves and its leader in long balls.

Shackelford hit his 33rd and 34th home runs in Monday’s tournament opener, and he’s now been intentionally walked six times in two tournament games. Against Carbone, he fell behind 0-2 before shooting a ground ball through the right side.

“It’s not all the time you make a bad error to start a big inning and then you get another chance,” Shackelford said of what he was thinking as he ran to first. “The Lord blessed me with that, so I’m super thankful I got another chance to pick my teammates up.”

Batz carried the offense early.

The freshman, batting leadoff for the third time this season, homered in his first at-bat, lifting a towering drive down the right-field line and inside the foul pole.

Two innings later, he whacked a ball that rattled around in the right-field corner, allowing him to hustle around to third. He scored on a Roy Verdejo sacrifice fly, the second run in what became a 3-0 TMU lead.

“I’ve been impressed with Will Batz from day one,” said TMU coach Monte Brooks. “He just keeps getting better and better and better. Today, I saw a maturity. I saw more confidence in his abilities.”