HARDEEVILLE, S.C. - Oscar Romero gave St. Thomas (Fla.) the lead with a two-run, pinch-hit single in the fifth inning, and the No. 2 seed Bobcats held on for a 6-3 win to advance to the championship game of the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round at Richard Gray Sports Complex.

A day after upsetting top-seeded Faulkner (Ala.), the Bulldogs jumped out to another early lead, scoring on Kody Pinson's RBI fielder's choice in the second and Doug Joyce's RBI groundout in the third.

Nicholas Perez pulled the Bobcats even with a two-run double in the third, and Romero came through with his pinch-hit single up the middle against reliever John Reed (4-4) to give St. Thomas its first lead in the fifth.

Pinson added an RBI single in the top of the sixth to get Union (39-18-1) within 4-3, but Hector Bello dumped a single into shallow right field to score two insurance runs in the sixth.

Emilio Ogando (7-0) allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits over six innings for the win. Ashley Bulluck struck out four in three hitless innings for the save.

Union will face the winner of Friday's USC Beaufort-Faulkner game at noon Saturday in the semifinals. The Bobcats (45-12) will play the winner of that game at 4 p.m. Saturday against the winner of the loser's bracket.