BRONX, N.Y.—For the first time in Atlantic 10 history, the No. 6 seed will play for a league baseball title. Sixth-seeded Davidson beat Saint Joseph’s 6-4 in the Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship consolation bracket final Friday at Fordham’s Houlihan Park.

The Wildcats advance to their first-ever conference baseball championship final in the history of the program and will play top-seeded Rhode Island at noon Saturday on the American Sports Network (ASN). As the team out of the consolation bracket, Davidson will need to beat Rhody twice Saturday to earn the A-10 trophy. The Rams beat Davidson in the winner’s bracket semifinal earlier on Friday.

After Charlie Concannon hit a second-inning home run to give the Hawks an early lead, Davidson marched runs across, starting with one run in the first, followed by five runs across the fourth and fifth innings to take a 6-1 lead. SJU added single runs in the fifth, sixth and ninth.

Facing a do-or-die situation in the bottom of the ninth, with two runners on and the go-ahead run at the plate , Westin Whitmire stuck out Concannon and Matt Maul to get the win.

Jake Sidwell’s 3-for-4 performance and Lee Miller’s 3-for-5 day led the ‘Cats at the plate. Concannon was 4-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored for SJU. 

Josh Smutzer (4-1) threw seven strong innings for Davidson, allowing three runs (two earned) with three strikeouts for the win. Whitmire threw two full innings surrendering one hit and one run for his ninth save of the season. Tim Ponto (2-5) took the loss for the Hawks, who closed the season at 31-23.