SAUGET, Ill-  In one of the longest games in NCAA Championship history, Sonoma State defeated Central Missouri, 6-5 in 19 innings early on Tuesday morning at the NCAA Division II Championship in Sauget, Illinois.  The game lasted 6:45 and ended at nearly 3:00 am CDT, in the process producing the most unlikely of offensive heroes, as the Seawolves move on to the national semifinals on Thursday. 

The second-ranked Seawolves improve to 52-13 on the year while the seventh-ranked Mules drop to 46-16. 

The game was, surprisingly, not the longest in Division II Championship history.  A game went 22 innings in 1964.  That's one record, however, that the Seawolves are just fine not owning.

After four hours on Monday night (the game started at 8:09 local time), few would have thought we'd still have been playing 15 innings later.  The Seawolves built an early 4-0 lead on home runs by Ian Bridges and Travis Babin. 

At 4-0 in the fourth, the Seawolves knocked Mule starter, Jared Potts, out of the game and long struggle against the Mule bullpen began.  Starting with Alex Kent and continuing with Chris Matlock, the Seawolves struggled to generate any offense against the CMU relievers.  Kent tossed four innings of one-hit ball and Matlock had an amazing outing, striking out 13 and allowing three hits in 9.1 innings of relief. 

Sonoma State's defense, which has been phenomenal this year, let them down and allowed the Mules to get back into the game.  An error in the sixth led the way to three runs and another in the eighth tied the score.

As good as the Mule relievers were, Sonoma State's Matt Garnett was just as impressive.  Coming in relief of Gary Moran in the seventh, Garnett allowed just one run, unearned at that, over seven clutch innings.  Moran was good too, allowing three runs, all of them unearned, in six innings.

In the 18th inning, making his first plate appearance of the championship and one of the few he's made in the post-season due to injury, Dave Herman blasted a solo home run to left field to give SSU a 5-4 lead.  He, however, was not the unlikely offensive hero mentioned at the top of this story.

In the bottom of the 18th, the Mules rallied to score a run, charged to Travis Babin, and another unearned score.  All five of the runs that the Seawolves gave up were unearned. 

Kevin Asselin, a starter, came in in the 18th inning as a reliever and got out of a jam to head to the 19th.  It was there that Asselin made a name for himself at the plate as well.  With the bases loaded and one out, Coach Goelz stuck with Asselin, asking him to just put the ball in play.  After taking a strike, Asselin popped a bunt over the pitcher that was fielded by the shortstop, who went to second for one out.  Asselin, however, was able to leg out the fielder's choice, allowing Konrad Thieme to score with the game-winning run from third.

Asselin was able to retire the Mules in the 19th, to pick up his ninth win of the season and end the marathon affair.

The Seawolves will now wait to see who they play in Thursday's national semifinal game.  A win and the Seawolves move on to Saturday's national championship game.

Box Score