TWO THRILLING WINS FOR SBU OVER WILLIAMS BAPTIST
March 13, 2004
Game 1/Game 2
BOLIVAR, MO. ... It came down to seventh inning rallies, but the Southwest Baptist University Bearcats (10-11) came away with two wins over Williams Baptist. In both games, SBU scored the winning runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
SBU won the first game 2-1 and then rallied from 4-1 down to win 5-4 in the second game.
Game 1
WBC scored right away in the first inning and took a quick 1-0 lead. It was not until the bottom of the sixth that SBU tied the game at one. Kevin Miller started out the inning with a single to left field. He then advanced to second when Jason Hines was struck by the pitch. Caleb Stark put Miller on third and moved Hines to second on a sacrifice bunt. After Nathan Dunn walked, Andrew Gilstrap hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield that brought home Miller to tie the game.
SBU got WBC to go three up and three down in the top of seventh as the Bearcats looked to win the game in the bottom of the inning. With a single through the left side of the field, Spencer Wilkins was the first SBU batter to get on base in the seventh. Jesse Dziurawiec then singled and then Eric Beal laid down a bunt single to load the bases. With no outs, Miller brought home Wilkins for the game winning run on a single up the middle.
Tanner Rust pitched the complete game for the win to improve to 2-1 and also struck out six batters. Both Miller and Beal had two hits for SBU.
Game 2
The second game of the double header did not look as exciting from the start. WBC again scored early in the first but SBU answered right back in the third to tie the game at one when Hines tripled to right center field to bring home Miller.
WBC went on to score two more runs in the top of the fourth and then one more in the sixth for a 4-1 advantage. Looking pretty slim in the bottom of the seventh down 4-1, SBU rallied to take the win.
WBC's pitcher stared the inning off by walking Skyler Powers. Casey Martin came into pinch run for Powers and moved onto second base when WBC's third baseman bobbled trying to throw out Martin at second on Dziurawiec's hit. After a Beal walk to load the bases, Miller struck out for the first out. What looked like the game winning hit, Hines shot to left center field fell about 10 feet short of a grand slam for the second out. That out, though, brought home Martin on a sacrifice fly to trim the WBC lead to two, 4-2. Once again, WBC's pitcher walked Stark to load the bases for a second time in the inning. With two outs and needing three runs to win, Nathan Dunn took care of business as he doubled in all three runners with a long hit to right field.
The win improved SBU to 10-11 on the season and Beau Davis picked up the win for pitching one inning in the top to the seventh. Jeremy Horton started the day and went 4.2 innings with two strikeouts and two earned runs. Drew Osborne then went 1.1 innings with two strikeouts.
Hines was the only SBU batter to record two hits and Dunn led the team with three RBI.
SBU will open MIAA play on Tuesday, March 16th, at 12 p.m. vs. Missouri Southern at Dodson Field. |
