Bellevue, Neb. - The No. 2 seeded Central Methodist baseball program fell in extra innings to No. 3 seeded Tabor College, 5-2, Monday afternoon in the first game of the NAIA National Championship Opening Round in Bellevue, Neb. 

With the defeat, Central falls to 42-14 and moves to the loser's bracket, where they will play Concordia (Neb.) in an elimination game Tuesday, May 17 at 11:00 a.m. 

CMU found themselves trailing early, as Tabor plated runs in the first and fourth innings to take a 2-0 lead over Central. 

Tanner Sears cut the deficit in half, as he recorded his sixth home run of 2022 on a solo shot to right field in the bottom of the seventh. 

Down to their final out in the bottom of the ninth inning, junior shortstop Robbie Merced began the rally with a single back up the middle. Following a stolen base from Merced, Sears put the ball in play and reached first on a fielder's choice. 

A fielding error by Tabor's shortstop allowed Merced to score from second and tie the game at 2-2. The game would go into extra innings. 

Mirroring Central's ninth inning, the first two Bluejay batters were retired, before a single to short put a runner at first with two outs. A wildpitch followed and then an intentional walk to put runners at first and second. 

The Bluejays then strung together an RBI-single and a two-RBI double to take a 5-2 lead, which proved to be the final score. 

Senior ace Nick Merkel tossed eight complete innings, giving up just two earned runs on five hits and one walk. He also struck out nine batters. Ryan Jeffers pitched one inning and collected one strike out, while Sebastian Escobar threw the 10th. 

Overall, Central scored two runs on six hits, compared to the Bluejays' five runs on eight hits. 

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