FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- The Methodist baseball team bolstered its case for an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament with a 4-2 win over Piedmont in its season finale on Sunday afternoon at Armstrong Shelley Field.
 
Prior to the contest, the Monarchs paid tribute to their five seniors Davis Cass, Logan Haines, Dylan Stowell, Kevin Williams and Sam Berman.
 
The 19th-ranked Monarchs wrap up regular season play with a record of 32-12 and took 2 of 3 from Piedmont (30-14), a team which sat two spots ahead of MU in the initial NCAA Regional Rankings published earlier this week.
 
Matthias Carter reached on an error to lead off the bottom of the first for the Monarchs, moved to second a sacrifice bunt, took third on a wild pitch then staked MU to a 1-0 lead when he scampered home on Alex Kachler's sacrifice fly to center.
 
In the second inning, Tucker Criswell led off with a single and moved up 90 feet on a sacrifice bunt. With two outs, Parker Clayton singled home Criswell as the Green & Gold took a 2-0 lead.
 
Piedmont struck for a single run in the third inning, but the Monarchs answered with two runs in the bottom of the frame. Carter took a pitch off the hand to reach base leading off the inning. He moved to second with one out on a single from Kachler. Each runner moved up on a wild pitch, and with two outs, Criswell laced a single back up the middle that allowed each runner to cross the plate for a 4-1 lead.
 
The Lions added one more run in the fourth inning to pull within 4-2, but MU's relief duo of Kevin Williams and Will Walker tossed 5.1 innings of scoreless relief. Williams improved to 3-0 on the season with 4.1 scoreless innings of four-hit ball. He walked three and struck out three. Walker came on in the ninth and shut the door on the Lions, picking up his ninth save of the season and tying the MU single-season record in the process.
 
Criswell was 3 for 4 with a pair of runs driven in and scored once for MU. Clayton added two hits in three at bats and drove in one run, while Carter reached base twice and scored two runs, bringing his season run total to 60 the most since Chris Culbreth scored 72 runs in the 1995 season.
 
Methodist will await the NCAA selection committee's decision on whether they will receive an at-large berth. The field will be announced on May 13.