BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — To win the Southern Conference Title, the Samford baseball team had to win three games — in one day.

“In the end, it’s awesome because we got so much national attention,” Head coach Tony David said. “During the day, it didn’t feel so awesome.”

They got their breaks where they could, but every time the Bulldogs played defense, catcher Kaden Dreier was behind the plate.

“I think with all of them being ‘win-or-go-home’ I think that definitely helped with the mentality of, ok, I have to do this,” Dreier said.

The victories were described by the head coach as the first time the dogs have brought home three wins in one day.

“It’s the logistics of food between games in a really condensed time. They kept wanting us to play 28-30 minutes after the fact,” David said.

So, the coach piled on his catcher’s gear who caught all 27 innings.

“I’m definitely going to need a couple of chiropractor visits, a couple more practices and lifts to get ready for this weekend,” David said. “Just thinking about it beforehand I was like, I don’t even think that’s possible that they could schedule three games in a row like that, and then it happened, and it was just kind of all a blur.”

Pitchers get their breaks, the catcher, in this case, did not — but he didn’t think about the pain until after the trophy was above their heads.

“I definitely think the adrenaline of it could have been the end of the season for us, so you couldn’t hold anything back and I tried not to think about it too much,” Dreier said.

In one day, Kaden caught 420 pitches in 27 innings and helped the Bulldogs punch their ticket to the NCAA tournament. For that, Kaden Dreier is CBS 42’s Athlete of the Week.