CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - Exciting finishes continued to be the theme Saturday in games two and three of the Mid-South Conference series between Campbellsville University and St. Catharine College. After losing game one of the series, 5-4, on a play at the plate Friday, the Tigers rebounded with a pair of one-run victories Saturday.
Game one Saturday ended in similar fashion as Friday night's, only this time, the call was in favor of the home team.
Trent Seamons, who was called out Friday in a diving play at home, singled to right with two outs and scored a diving
Rylan Chin for a 2-1 victory.
In the night cap, senior
Michael Durham crushed a curveball deep over the leftfield fence to score two runs for his first walk-off home run of the season. He drove in all three of CU's runs in the game. The homer was déjà vu of a ninth-inning, two-run, walk-off bomb by Durham last May to send the Tigers to the MSC Championship game.
Both games were won in the bullpen, as
Rusty Devitt (2-0) picked up the win in the first game and
Phillip Gerber (3-2) record the win in game two after closing out the top of the seventh.
Campbellsville (28-12, 9-6) knocks St. Catharine (28-18, 9-5 MSC) out of first-place with the wins. The Tigers will return to action Tuesday night to host Trevecca Nazarene University for a non-conference game at Tiger Field at 7 p.m. ET.
GAME 1 - Campbellsville 2, St. Catharine 1 -- BOXSCORE
Both teams were held scoreless through the first four innings of game one Saturday, before Campbellsville took a 1-0 lead in the fifth. Chin scored the go-ahead run on an error at shortstop that allowed
Carlos Torres to reach safely.
The Patriots evened the score in the top of the sixth after Marcus Brown led off the inning with a single to left. Andrew Garcia drove in the tying run with another single to left. Cook struck out Eric Standafer with the bases loaded to pitch out of the jam. St. Catharine loaded the bases again in the eighth with one out before Tiger starter
Jacob Cook exited. Devitt inherited the three runners and held off the Patriots to get out of the inning.
Devitt allowed a two-out single in the top of the ninth, but got a fly ball to right to give CU its last at bat.
Chin led off the ninth with a single to left and scored the winning run on a single by Seamons.
Cook recorded a no decision after throwing 7 1/3 innings, allowing one earned run off four hits and two walks. He struck out seven.
GAME 2 - Campbellsville 3, St. Catharine 2Â -- BOXSCORE
While Durham's walk-off bomb was the fireworks to end the night, the game begin with another rubber match between starters
Michael McBride for CU and St. Catharine's Timothy Reed.
Once again, the game was scoreless through four innings of work before St. Catharine posted a two-spot in the fifth.
CJ Englestad doubled to left to start the inning but was thrown out on a failed sac bunt attempt after another Patriot, Joey Xavier, walked. With two on and one out, Jeremy Turpin singled to left to score Xavier and Marcus Brown. McBride got a ground ball to end the inning.
Campbellsville responded in the bottom of the fifth.
Brandon Johnson singled to start the inning but pinch runner
Aaron Schwoebel was thrown out on a double steal move after Chin singled to put two on. Durham followed with a single to right to score Chin.
McBride exited after walking the leadoff in the seventh and giving up and sac bunt. He pitched 6 1/3 innings and allowing two earned runs off five hits and two walks.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Tigers' final inning of the night cap,
Craig Edwards hit a shoestring line drive to first for the first out before
Brandon Johnson laced a double down the leftfield line.
Levi McCamish entered to run for Johnson. After Chin went down on strikes, Durham turned an 0-1 curveball to be the Tigers' hero for the night.
Johnson and Durham were the only multiple-hit Tigers in the game, each going 2-for-3.
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