Two Runs in Ninth Inning Give #14 Berea Walk-Off Win Against Asbury

Two Runs in Ninth Inning Give #14 Berea Walk-Off Win Against Asbury

Berea, KY- #14 Berea returned to the diamond at the Berea College Sports Complex this evening riding a two-game winning streak after two wins over Alice Lloyd College. The baseball team looked to continue their streak as they welcomed the Eagles of Asbury University to their home field.

Two runs in the top of the first inning gave Asbury a 2-0 lead as the Mountaineers came to the plate. As the inning looked like it was coming to an end with the first two outs on the board, Devin Belleville hit a single to right center field before moving to second base on Ron Overstreet's hit by pitch. Andrew Akins' single scored Devin Belleville followed by Cambridge Dacci's single which scored Overstreet to tie the game 2-2. After a scoreless second inning, the home team found themselves trailing 5-2 as they came to bat in the third inning. Akins' second single of the game resulted in his second RBI of the game as Belleville scored his second run of the game to cut the Eagle's lead to two runs. A stolen base by Akins put him in scoring position before Dacci's RBI single, his second of the game also, scored Akins. The third inning ended with Asbury leading 5-4.

Four runs over the fifth inning and the top half of the sixth inning changed the deficit the Mountaineers faced to five runs as Nicholas Bottom stepped to the plate in the bottom half of the sixth, resulting in a walk. A bunt single by Joshua Works moved Bottom to second before a balk moved both Bottom and Works a base and a wild pitch scored Bottom while moving Works to third. Nathaniel Summey came to the plate and hit a double to score Works and make the score 9-6. Asbury scored a run in the top of the seventh inning before Berea took over in the bottom of the seventh. Akins began the inning with his third single of the game before moving to third on Dacci's third single of the game. Akins beat the throw to home as the score changed to 10-7 on Bottom's fielder's choice before a Works single scored Dacci to pull within two runs of the lead. With the bases loaded after a Summey hit by pitch, Ryan Blevens scored Bottom and Works with his single to tie the game at 10 runs each. Belleville's patience at the plate loaded the bases again before Overstreet hit a double to left field to score two more runs, giving the Mountaineers their first lead of the game. The inning ended with Berea leading 12-10.

After a run in the eighth and two runs in the ninth gave the Eagles a 13-12 advantage, the Mountaineers came to the plate with the chance for a walk-off win. Summey began the inning with a hit by pitch to put the tying run on base. Berea's chances of a comeback became bleak when the next two batters recorded outs before Overstreet's double to left field brought the momentum back to the Mountaineers and put the game-winning run on second base to go with Summey on third. Akins came to the plate needing a single to at least extend the game and the contact his bat made with the ball resulted in an error by the Asbury second baseman, allowing Summey and Overstreet to cross home plate and give Berea the 14-13 walk-off victory.

The team totaled 16 hits in the game, led by three hits each from Akins and Dacci. Akins finished with a team-high four RBIs while Blevens, Dacci and Overstreet finished with two each. Chad Brown started on the bump for the home team but Joshua Durbin gets the credit for the win.

#14 Berea (13-20) returns to the road riding a three-game winning streak as they travel to Wabash, IN to begin a three-game series against Wabash University. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday with the first game starting at 1:00 PM with the second game to follow shortly after. The concluding game will occur on Sunday. Live stats for the games can be found here.