SAINT LEO, Fla. – With its back against the wall, UWF's best player came up huge.
 
Darrien McDowell reached base five times and hit two home runs, including the go-ahead 2-run blast in the seventh to help UWF defeat Embry-Riddle 6-3 and force the 'if necessary' region championship game on Sunday.
 
UWF (35-22) won two elimination games on Saturday to keep its season alive after they defeated Delta State, 17-6, earlier in the day. Sunday's 2 p.m. contest at Thomas B. Southard Stadium will determine who will face Tampa in the Super Regional next weekend.
 
"We knew going in it was going to be a long day and talked to the guys about breaking it down by one pitch and one inning at a time," UWF head coach Mike Jeffcoat said. "And you can't say enough about Darrien. He's stayed hot all through the postseason and had a great year."
 
McDowell put the Argos ahead in the first with a towering home run to left. The RBI was his 70th in 2024, passing Greg Pron for the top single-season mark in program history. Pron had 69 in 2011.

ERAU answered in the third with three runs to grab a 3-1 lead. The first two came on a ball that got past a diving McDowell's at first.
 
UWF got a run back in the sixth when Mark Townsend led off with a double, moved to third on a fly out and scored on a Brett Rowell ground out.
 
The Argos regained the lead in the seventh on another deep home run from McDowell. This one came after Trent Jeffcoat was hit to lead off the inning and ended up well beyond the centerfield boundary. He now has 26 on the season and four in the regional.
 
An inning later, McDowell got jammed and still drove a double off the wall in right to score Zack Stokes to add to the lead. Dean Hotz followed with a perfect bunt that made it possible for Jeffcoat to slip his left hand under the tag at home to make it a 6-3 ball game.
 
Dilan Lawson improved to 7-2 on the year and picked up his second postseason victory. He entered the game in the fifth and proceeded to go 4.1 innings while allowing just one hit with two strikeouts.
 
"With Caidan Peeples going 4.2 innings and Dilan Lawson going 4.1 with only one hit, that let the offense know that if they can score and take the lead, we were going to win this thing," Jeffcoat added.
 
MCDOWELL RECORD BOOK UPDATE: His 26 home runs are tied for the third most in Gulf South Conference single-season history ... His 93 base hits this season are tied with Greg Pron (2011) for the UWF single-season record ... He became the single-season RBI leader at UWF with his first inning home run, breaking the tie he held with Pron (69 in 2011)..