HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Mother nature played its role and tried to keep Tiger Baseball off the diamond for as long as possible. Switching the schedule and days of action around, the Tigers settled for a three-game series with the Crusaders of Williams Carey. The two teams have met 15 times with eight going in the favor of CU. Last year, they collided for a 4-game stint, splitting those game at two apiece.
GAME ONE: Campbellsville 8, William Carey 9
59 degrees and sunny was the setting as first the pitch was tossed. The start offensively for Campbellsville was impressive.
Alex Castaneda stepped in the box first and earn a six-pitch walk.
Jorge Gonzalez followed up with a ten-pitch battle. He drove a ball deep to right field off the bottom of the wall. Gonzalez raced around the base paths and slid into third with a RBI triple.
Chad McCann did a job grounding out to short, scoring Gonzalez.
Henry Wright and
Noah Amenta accounted for the last two outs of the inning. Campbellsville forced the William Carey ace to throw 31 pitches in the opening frame.
Kacey Cheek, the Sophomore from Oblong, Illinois, got the nod for game one. Cheek gave up a lead-off single through the right side. He settled down after that, producing two ground outs and striking out his first victim. Campbellsville led 2-0 after the first inning.
The second inning saw another run come across the plate, this time in the favor of the home team. William Carey picked up a one-out double and then a timely two-out single through the right side, scoring one.
Gonzalez started the cycle chase in the third inning. With one down and a triple under his belt, Jorge smashed the first pitch deep to left field and over the fence. This was the sixth of his career at CU.
Zack Bromstead was the first Tiger out of the bullpen, ending the day for Cheek. He went two innings, giving up three hits and one run in nine batters faced. Kasey tossed 36 total pitches, 22 finding the strike zone.
William Carey kept their bats alive with one out. A single and a stolen base set up a two-run homerun, tying the contest up at three. The offensive power of both teams was on display and continued to shine as Campbellsville came to the plate in the top of the fourth.
Amenta started a one-out rally with a poke through the left side. A
Jacob White walk and
Grant McQueary single loaded the bases.
Jacob Balsley found his first hit of the afternoon, scoring Amenta. The Tigers forced a pitching change and left the bases loaded.
Another burst off offense would show for WCU. They worked the bases loaded with nobody out, causing
Mason Lee to enter in relief. Lee battled and struck out the first batter. The Crusaders plated the tying run with a sac-fly into center field. Lee allowed a two-out walk, but it wouldn't haunt him as he induced a ground ball to end the inning. It was 4-4 through four innings of play.
The Campbellsville bat rack was still on fire as they took their fourth lead of the contest. Another rally with two outs was started by
Henry Wright. He was hit by a pitch and stole second, moving into scoring position. Amenta shot a ball in the five-six hole and reach edfirst. The ability to read the ball in the hole by Wright, allowed him to scurry home and beat the throw. The play was scored an error by the third baseman.
Lee continued to produce on the bump, going three up and three down. CU continued to apply pressure on offense. Balsley singled into left field to start the build-up. The very next pitch, he would steal second. Nobody backed the throw up, as it rolled into center field, allowing him to advance to third.
Lorenzo Gonzalez walked as
Miguel Silfa entered to pinch run. Castaneda grounded out, scoring Balsley and moving Silfa to second. Gonzalez singled for his third hit of the game, scoring Silfa. Campbellsville plated two runs on two hits. They led 7-4 through six innings after another solid inning behind Lee.
The Tigers stranded a runner in scoring position, moving to the home half of the seventh.
Zane Morrison would be in relief of Lee, who had a fantastic outing letting Campbellsville build up insurance runs. He threw three innings of no-hit baseball and 26 of his 43 pitches, were strikes.
The script flipped and energy moved in the favor of the Red and Black soon after. They scored five runs on four hits and one error. This was the first lead of the afternoon for William Carey. The Tigers cut the deficit in half in the top of the eighth behind Balsley. It was a leadoff single, followed by a stolen base. On a fielder's choice, he took third and caused an error, allowing him to score on the wild throw.
Campbellsville was down to their final three outs. After a pop out and fly out, White reached via the single, to represent the tying run. He would get stranded, and Campbellsville would fall, 9-8. The Tigers scored eight runs on ten hits and William Carey plated nine on nine hits. Gonzalez went 3-for-5 and Balsey went 3-for-4. Amenta and McQueary tallied the other three hits.
GAME TWO: Campbellsville 5, William Carey 4
The second meeting had the same feeling getting started. Amenta applied the pressure, hitting a ball hard to the third basement. He reached via the error and would end up reaching third base where he was stranded. The Tigers were unable to pick up a timely hit like the Crusaders did. A clutch two-out single up the middle gave William Carey the 1-0 advantage after one.
Campbellsville's side was retired and the only runner to reach base was a walk issued to WCU. In the midst of a pitching duel, small ball is key.
Samio Uze singled through the right side representing the tying run.
Tyler Belcher sacrificed Uze to second with one out. CU found the clutch hit off the bat of Amenta. He set back and drove a ball into right field, picking up the RBI Uze.
William Carey tried to produce a rally of their own with back-to-back base runners and two outs. The Crusaders attempted to get in a rundown, but the Campbellsville defense got the third out before the runner could cross the plate. The contest was even at one through three innings.
The fourth inning mirrored the third for CU as they went down in order. William Carey tried to give Campbellsville a run of their own game. A leadoff single was moved over with a sac bunt.
Ryan McFarland induced an infield pop fly and struck out his fourth William Carey batter.
With the game deadlocked at one run each, Campbellsville sought to take their first lead of the game. Balsley led the frame off with a single through the right side. Uze used the sacrifice to perfection. Balsley made his way over to third after an infield groundout. Gonzalez laced a ball into left field, but a full-extension diving catch halted the Tiger attack.
The diving catch seemed to move the momentum in favor of WCU. The leadoff reached after a Campbellsville error and made his way into second base. He was moved to third with a ground ball to the right side. The next Crusader hitter launched a ball into center for a double, giving them the 2-1 lead. McFarland picked up another punchout and got out of the inning with limited damage.
With one down, Campbellsville started rolling. Wright doubled to center field and
Jacob White walked. A mental miscue by WCU moved the runners up 90 feet.
Josiah Clark came up clutch with a laser into left field. With the outfield playing deep, Campbellsville had no problem scoring Wright as well as White from second, taking their first lead of the night, 3-2. In the home half of the sixth,
Aaron Hammer entered in relief, putting a close on McFarland's night. His numbers were five innings thrown, five hits, two runs, one earned run and five strikeouts.
William Carey threatened in the next half inning. They had runners on the corners with no outs. The CU defense flashed the leather with a line-out double play. With the game tying run on third, a slow rolling ground ball was hit in between third and short. Amenta fielded the ball ranging to his left, spun, and fired a rocket across the diamond to prevent the run. Campbellsville was in a tough situation and maintained the one-run lead headed to the seventh.
CU was unable to muster any insurance runs going to the bottom seventh three outs away from the first win of the year. A two-out double, error, and passed ball tied the contest three. The seven-inning game headed to extra innings.
Campbellsville would find some late game magic of their own. Wright struck out with one out but reached after a dropped third strike. Two pitches later, he would steal second. White squared a pitch up off the bottom of the wall and slid into third for an RBI triple. A gutsy squeeze call paid off, with Clark laying a bunt down as White crossed home plate. Campbellsville led 5-3 moving to the bottom of the eighth.
Chad McCann was the next Tiger out of the bullpen. The first batter, who happened to be the opposing pitcher, went deep to left center. McCann settled in and picked up a foul out and a line out. With the count sitting at 2-2, he blew one by the Crusader and finished off the 5-4 extra inning battle.
Campbellsville scored five runs on six hits. WCU platted four on seven hits. Uze, White, Clark, Balsley, Amenta, and Wright each picked up a hit. Clark led the team with three RBI's. McCann picked up the win and the Tigers pitching staff tallied seven strikeouts.
Campbellsville and William Carey will square off tomorrow for the rubber match. First pitch is slated for 2 p.m. ET.
