MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Trailing by four runs, 6-2, heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, the No. 27-ranked Southern Arkansas baseball team would plate five runs in the frame to earn a come-from-behind victory against Mississippi College as the two teams squared off in an in-region matchup on Tuesday evening at Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field.
Prior to that big ninth-inning rally, the Muleriders' (7-3) offense had started to break through against Choctaw pitching in the eighth inning as
Trevor Rucker and
Billy Germaine belted back-to-back solo homeruns to give SAU their first runs of the game. The Rucker and Germaine homers at the time had brought the Muleriders to within two runs as they previously trailed 4-0.
In the top of the ninth, however, the Choctaws would get those two runs back to once again take a four-run advantage over the Muleriders heading into the final half inning.
Josey Langston, who came on defensively for the Muleriders in the top of the seventh, would get the rally started for the Muleriders as he lead off the frame with an opposite field single into left-centerfield. A hit-by-pitch taken by
Michael Page moved Langston to second base and in the ensuing at-bat, Langston would come home for the first run of the inning as he took advantage of a misplayed ball by the Choctaw left fielder on
Jake Tisevich's single through the left side of the infield.
Following Tisevich's single, Rucker would get an infield single to load the bases with no outs. A swinging strikeout of Germaine put the game on the line as a potential game-ending double play was now available.
Zach Silvers then went first-pitch swinging and grounded to the Choctaw third basemen, who struggled getting the ball out of his glove, but was able to get the force out at home for the second out as Silvers reached on a fielder's choice.
In the ensuing at-bat,
Jackson Murphy hit a chopping grounder towards second base which appeared to end the game, but the ball would jet underneath the Choctaw's second baseman, allowing two runs to score and the game, more importantly to continue.
Early in the next at-bat, the Muleriders would tie the game at six-all as a wild pitch scored Silvers from third. Also advancing 90-feet on the play was
Austin Bishoff as he came on as a pinch runner and went from first to second. A walk to
David LaFleur put runners at first and second base, but a wild pitch duing the next at-bat moved Bishoff to third and LaFleur to second.
Following that wild pitch, the Choctaws would issue a walk to
Corey Campbell to load the bases with two outs. That walk to Campbell brought back to the plate Langston, who had started the current half inning with a single.
After fouling off a pitch, Langston would rip a single past the diving first baseman and down the right field line to give SAU the walk-off win, 7-6.
As clutch as the game-winning knock was for Langston, it was perhaps his glove that was the real hero in the game as he started a spectacular inning-ending double play in the top of the eighth inning as the Choctaws were threatening with bases loaded and one out in that inning. On that twin-killing, Langston appeared to fall down on his way to the batted ball, but as he was falling down, Langston was still able to glove the ball, then fire over second base where Page was waiting to complete the play with a strong throw on the back-half. That inning-ending double play kept it a 4-0 game at the time.
The Muleriders will now prepare for their first conference series of the season this upcoming weekend at GAC-newcomer Oklahoma Baptist. The three-game series between the Bison and Muleriders is scheduled start with a doubleheader on Friday, February 19. First-pitch is set for 1 p.m. in Shawnee, Okla.
