Box Score
CLEVELAND, Miss. – Former conference foes and perennial national baseball powers, Southern Arkansas and Delta State renewed their rivalry on Tuesday night in a mid-week game that pitted two of the top 20 teams in NCAA Division II. The nationally-ranked matchup would live up to its billing and then some as the two teams battled each other for 11 innings and close to five hours before the No. 3-ranked Muleriders came away with the 13-11 win.
The first of the eventual combined 24 runs in Tuesday's game was scored by Delta State in the bottom of the first inning when they got a sacrifice fly off of SAU starter
Yumezo Densaki.
In the top of the third, the Muleriders (20-4) would score three runs to take a 3-1 lead. The first of those runs came on a bases loaded walk to
Justin Buchanan. A batter later,
Korey Keith drove in two runs on a single to right-centerfield.
In the top of the next inning, the Muleriders added three more runs to take a 6-1 lead. In that frame, the Muleriders got RBIs from
Tyler Cameron,
Carver Rademacher, and Buchanan. Five runs by the Statesmen (15-6) in the bottom of that inning, however, knotted the game at 6-all. All five of those runs would be charged to Densaki, who would not record an out in the fourth before being pulled in favor of
Colton Strother.
An inning later in the fifth, the Statesmen continued their offensive surge as they scored twice to take an 8-6 lead through five innings. In the top of the sixth inning, however, the Muleriders got back on track offensively as they loaded the bases with two outs. That situation would end well for the Muleriders as
William Townsend cleared the bases on a triple to right-centerfield, giving SAU a 9-8 lead.
Neither team would score in the seventh, but the Muleriders added a run in the top of the eighth on a single to centerfield by
Jon Phillips, giving them a 10-8 advantage. With two outs in the bottom of the eight, the Statesmen would rally and score twice to knot the game at 10-all.
A scoreless ninth inning for both teams pushed the game in to extra innings.
In the top of the 10th, the Muleriders would apply immediate pressure as
Trevor Rucker singled up the middle on the first pitch in his at-bat. During the next at-bat, Rucker moved himself into scoring position as he stole second base. Looking to move Rucker over to third,
Josh Rodriguez would lay down a bunt. Rodriguez's bunt did move Rucker to third, but it also went down as a single as Rodriguez was able to reach first base safely. A groundout of Townsend in the next at-bat kept Rucker at third, but allowed Rodriguez to move into scoring position at second base. In the following at-bat, Cameron laid a sacrifice bunt down the first base side of the infield to score Rucker and give the Muleriders an 11-10 lead.
As was the case throughout the game, however, the Statesmen would push across a run to tie the game, forcing another inning.
Now in the top of the 11th, the Muleriders would get a pair of one-out walks to
Ryan Dardenne and Buchanan to set up their scoring opportunity. In the next at-bat, Keith, who had a pair of RBIs earlier in the game, picked up his third as he singled into centerfield, scoring Dardenne. An error by the Statesmen pitcher in the follow at-bat allowed Buchanan to score, making it a 13-11 game in favor of SAU.
Preston Gray, who came on in relief with two outs in the eighth inning returned to the mound in the bottom of the 11th looking to get the final three outs of the game. The first out would come quickly as he induced an 0-2 groundout to second base. A full-count swinging strikeout put Gray one out away from picking up his third win of the season. The third and final out came in the ensuing at-bat as Gray got another groundout to second base.
Both teams would combine for 24 runs on 28 hits, but they would also combine for nine errors.
The Muleriders will now get ready for a weekend road conference series at Harding University. The three-game set is scheduled to begin with a single game on Friday, March 14. First-pitch is set for 2 p.m.
