The rain came, but it did not cause a delay. Some wild throws. Some wacky plays. Two walks in the ninth – one with the bases loaded. And, it was a win for the Peru State College (PSC) Bobcat baseball team on Thursday in the winner's bracket of the Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC) Post-season Baseball Tournament.
The Bobcats defeated Central Methodist University (CMU) when the 'Cats drew a bases-loaded walk with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to win 9-8 over the Eagles. The win advances PSC further into the winner's bracket as they will take on Avila University at noon on Friday at the Phil Welch Stadium in St. Joseph, Mo.
After getting out of a tough top half of the first inning where CMU stranded two, Peru State got on the board in the bottom half of the inning.
Following the first out of the inning,
Randy Santiesteban (Hialeah, Fla.) doubled to deep left-center.
Jeff Eubank (Fort Pierce, Fla.) singled thru the hole at second base with Santiesteban advancing to third.
Kyle Fredrickson (Omaha) reached on a walk to load the bases.
Derek Voigt (Auburn, Wash.) stepped to the plate and hit a sacrifice fly to center scoring Santiesteban to make it 1-0 PSC.
The Eagles came out and put up two runs in the top half of the second to take a 2-1 lead. But, the 'Cats responded in the bottom of the inning.
Brenden Gentry (Sallisaw, Okla.) reached on a walk and went to second when
Gustavo Arcia (Caracas, Venezuela) singled thru the hole at shortstop.
James Welty (Omaha) laid down a sacrifice bunt advancing both runners.
Jonathan Castillo (Paterson, N.J.) singled to short driving in Gentry to tie the score at 2-2 with Arcia going to third. Castillo stole second base to leave first base open. A wild pitch by CMU allowed Arcia to score with Castillo going to third. Castillo then scored on a sacrifice fly to deep left by Santiesteban giving Peru a 4-2 lead after two innings.
CMU cut it to one at 4-3 in their half of the third inning and then added one in the fourth to tie it at 4-4.
The Bobcats regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Welty got on board with a walk and after two outs, went to third on a wild throw, which allowed Eubank to get on base. Fredrickson had an infield single, which scored Welty putting PSC back on top at 5-4.
In the bottom of the fifth, it appeared the Bobcats had gained control as they scored three more runs to take an 8-4 advantage.
J.L. Thomason (Holt, Fla.) doubled to deep left-center to start things off. Gentry got on board as he was hit by a pitch. Thomason and Gentry advanced as Arcia laid down a bunt. After the second out of the inning, Castillo doubled to deep right-center with both Thomason and Gentry scoring to make it 7-4 at that point. Santiesteban followed with a single thru the hole at shortstop to plate Castillo for the final Bobcat run of the inning.
When it looked like it could be in control, the Eagles were able to come back and score four in the top of the sixth to tie it up at 8-8.
Peru State had runners in the sixth and seventh, and two in the bottom of the eighth, but could not score. The Bobcats did shut down CMU in the seventh and eighth, but struggled in the top of the ninth, before not allowing the Eagles to score.
In the bottom of the ninth, following the first out of the inning, Welty singled to shallow left. Welty went to second when Castillo drew a walk. After another out, Eubank reached base on an Eagle error, which loaded the bases. Fredrickson, with two outs and the bases loaded, battled with the CMU pitcher and was calm at the plate, and eventually drew the walk-off walk to win the game!
Castillo and Fredrickson each had three hits and added three and two RBI respectively.
Austin Parker (Brighton, Colo.) threw the first five innings for PSC. Parker gave up eight hits, eight runs – seven of which were earned. Parker did strike out five schools.
Aubrey Dezarn (Las Vegas, Nev.) came in to relieve Parker in the top of the sixth and did not allow any hits while striking out three in three innings of work.
Danny Borst (Moreno Valley, Calif.) got the first out of the ninth before Voigt threw the final two outs and got the win as he was the pitcher of record. Voigt is now 2-0 on the year.
CMU-PSC BOX SCORE
Action Continues
The Bobcats will face Avila at noon. With a win, PSC advances to the championship game at noon on Saturday.
If the Bobcats would lose on Friday, they would have a consolation bracket game at 7 p.m. Then, PSC would have to continue to win to advance further in the tourney.
