MARION, Ind. -- After a roller-coaster regular season, the fourth-seeded Marian College baseball team played its way into the Mid-Central College Conference Tournament championship game only to see its hopes dashed not once, but twice in the same afternoon.

BC, who the Knights defeated 8-7 in 16 innings earlier in the tournament, swept the Knights aside with a pair of wins, 3-2 and 5-2, to earn the MCC Tournament title at IWU Baseball Field in Marion, Ind., on Friday afternoon.

Pitching was the theme in game one as both starters threw solid games, but, unfortunately, only one could pick up the win. BC struck first with a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the third inning.

The Knights threatened for the first time in the fourth inning. Senior Bryston Bangel (Indianapolis, Ind./ Decatur Central) opened the inning with a single and senior Cody Andrew (Hanover, Ind./Southeastern) followed with a walk to put two on with nobody out. Senior Joel Strode (Canton, Illl./Canton) singled to left field, but Bangel was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second. The rally was quelled quickly with no damage done on the scoreboard.

BC added to its lead with one in the seventh, 3-0, but the Knights were not about to give in. In the top of the eighth freshman Mike Keltz ( Avon, Ind./Avon) was hit by a pitch and brought home on an RBI-triple by senior Derek Malikian (Charlottesville, Va./New River CC). After a ground-out, Malikian scored on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to one, 3-2. The Knights had a pair of runners in the top of the ninth, but could not bring them home as the final score line read, 3-2.

Senior Jason Moon (Anderson, Ind./Anderson) threw a complete game five-hitter, but picked up the defeat. He allowed just one earned run, walked eight and struck out three to fall to 3-5.

The Knights took an early lead in the decisive game in the bottom of the second. A single from junior Josh Gerald (Frankfort, Ind./Frankfort), a stolen base from junior courtesy runner Kevin Shepherd (Fortville, Ind./Ancilla JC), and a pair of wild pitches brought around the game's first run to stake the Knights a 1-0 lead. BC responded in the top of the fourth with a two-run inning to take a 2-1 lead.

Marian responded in bottom of the fourth inning with a run of its own to tie the game, 2-2. Sophomore Chad Morris (Whitestown, Ind./Lebanon), who singled to open the inning, scored on a wild pitch to knot the score line.

However, BC opened a three-run lead in the top of the fifth inning and did not look back. It added two more in the top of the eighth and one more in the ninth to put the game out of reach. The Knight offense had trouble getting on track throughout the final frames and fell to BC, 8-2.

Malikian had the lone RBI in a 1-for-4 day in game one with a triple while Strode and Morris each had two hits in game two.

The Knights close the season with a 19-27-1 overall record and an 11-10 mark in MCC play. Senior Bryston Bangel was named to the All-Conference team and All-Conference Gold Glove team while senior Joel Strode was named to the All-Conference Gold Glove team.