KINGSPORT, Tenn. – With the season on the line, the Campbellsville bats came alive Tuesday morning into the afternoon against Marian University in an NAIA Opening Round elimination game.
A back-and-forth contest that saw three different Marian leads last less than a half of an inning as CU was able to either tie the game or take the lead back in each the first, fourth, and fifth innings.
In the first, MU jumped out to a 2-0 lead after a leadoff walk that was followed by a single, double, and RBI groundout to score both runs four batters in to the game. Campbellsville starter
Marco Murillo settled in after that, not allowing a run over the next two innings into the fourth.
A day after going 1-for-12 with runners on base and 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position in their Monday loss against Webber International, the Tigers pounded out 13 hits with runners on and nine with runners in scoring position.
It started early in the bottom of the first when
Tyler Deason cracked a two-RBI triple to left center to tie the game at 2-2. Two pitches later,
Brandon Douglas singled to left to drive in Deason giving CU a 3-2 lead.
They extended their lead to 4-2 until the Knights finally tied the game and eventually took the lead back in the top of the fourth inning as they scored three runs to make it 5-4 after back-to-back RBI singles from the two and three hitters in their order.
Once again Campbellsville was able to score in the bottom half of the inning as
Bryson Wallet knocked in a run with a ground ball up the middle with two outs as an error was made, allowing
Tyson Solis to score from third on the play.
Marian followed up by taking their second two-run lead of the game with a two-out, two-RBI single from leadoff man Caden Jones on a high chopper bounced over the head of
Lane Kashiwamura as shortstop.
Kashiwamura answered on the offensive end in the next half inning, tying the game with his own two-run single to center field scoring
Cale Thompson and
Jack Bauer to lock the score up at 7-7. That hit was only the third hit of the season for Kashiwamura who got the start at short with Murillo getting the call to start the game on the mound.
Jesse Davis was on the mound for the Tigers after entering in the fifth and he shut down the Marian lineup through the eighth inning, helping CU gain and extend a lead. The big moment for Davis was in the sixth when he allowed a runner on third with no outs but followed it up with a comeback grounder where he kept the runner on third then a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning, keeping the score tied at 7-7.
The Tigers got their lead in the bottom of the sixth on another RBI from Wallet, this time it was a single to left field, scoring Solis once again as Campbellsville took an 8-7 lead. The followed up with a run in the seventh on an RBI by Solis then two in the eighth on an RBI double from
Donnel Bailey and a wild pitch to hold an 11-7 advantage into the ninth.
Marian threatened in the ninth against Davis as they had runners on first and second with one out. The two teams that played a wild game found a wild way to bring it to and end.
Knights' center fielder Henry Fisher crushed a ball to deep center field out of the reach of Solis, scoring the runner from second but the runner from first, thinking Solis might make a catch, was tagging at the bag. Fisher ran by Matt Turk, ruling Fisher out on the play with the ball still live. Turk, thinking he was the one called out, was standing in the middle of the base line and the Tigers threw the ball back in, tagged him out and the game was over.
In one of CU's better offensive games, everyone in the starting lineup recorded a hit and five Tigers had multi-hit games led by a 4-for-5 day from Solis.
Adbiel Morales and Deason had three hits with Douglas and Thompson having two hits apiece.
Now Campbellsville will go on to their second elimination game of the day to face Madonna University later Tuesday night with a scheduled start of 6 p.m. ET. Madonna won their opener in comeback fashion against Marian 8-6 before losing their second game of Monday to No. 1 seed Tennessee Wesleyan 6-3.
The Crusaders used five pitchers over the two games on Monday with Jack Ferguson and John Beuckeleare combining for the win in their first game. Beuckeleare also pitched an inning and a third in their loss to TWU with Daniel Gore and Ross Rickel throwing the first 6.2 innings.
Offensively, the recorded double-digit hits in both games with 11 in their win and 10 in their loss. Their nine-hole hitter Adrian Reed went 3-for-4 in each game with only two runs scored in their 8-6 win.
For the second-straight game, the Tigers will have to win to stay alive in the NAIA Opening Round and they will move on to face the loser between Webber International and Tennessee Wesleyan Wednesday morning.
