Wingate University’s baseball team will play for the NCAA Division 2 championship Saturday.
The Bulldogs advanced to the finals with an 8-7, 11-inning victory Friday over Angelo State.
It marked the fourth straight day that Wingate won an elimination game against an opponent ranked among the nation’s top 15 teams.
The Bulldogs, rated 16th nationally, don’t know who they’ll face in the 2 p.m. final Saturday at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary.
The other semifinal, between top-seeded Central Missouri and defending national champ Tampa, was halted in the third inning Friday night by a thunderstorm. Central Missouri led 2-1, and the teams will resume play at 11 a.m. Saturday.
The winner faces sixth-seeded Wingate at 2 p.m.
Wingate blew a four-run lead but recovered for a victory Thursday against Angelo State. On Friday, they watched Angelo State wipe out another four-run Bulldog lead.
“This group knows how to play that way,” Wingate coach Jeff Gregory said. “They trust their teammates. They do what has to be done.”
Gregory says he thinks the Bulldogs (38-13), playing in the national baseball finals for the first time, were stunned when Angelo State (44-9) rallied with three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday.
“You’re an out away (from winning),” Gregory said. “I think it took them about an inning to come back. But they did it in the 11th.”
The winning run was scored by freshman Michael Dansky, of Providence High. He singled and eventually came home on a sacrifice fly by Jed Bryant, a junior from North Davidson High.
Then reliever Tommy McCollum, a sophomore, retired Angelo State in order in the bottom of the 11th.
Sophomore Logan McNeely, a Crest High product, led Wingate. He went 4-for-6 and drove in two runs. Charlotte Catholic’s McCann Mellett, along with Andrew McKay and Carson Simpson, each had two hits.
Wingate lost to Angelo State in the first round Tuesday.
Then the Bulldogs beat 14th-rated Southern New Hampshire on Tuesday; fourth-ranked Seton Hill on Wednesday; and ninth-ranked Angelo State on Thursday and Friday. Angelo State had won nine in a row and 20 of 21 before the two losses to the Bulldogs.
Wingate will be trying to become the first team to win a Division 2 baseball title after losing in the first round since Florida Southern in 2005.
Steve Lyttle on Twitter: @slyttle