ROME, Ga. – The University of West Alabama baseball team rallied from a 7-2 loss on game one of Saturday's doubleheader at Shorter University to win the series finale by a 13-10 score, Saturday afternoon from Ledbetter Field.
GAME 1: Shorter 7, West Alabama 2
The Tigers got into a little trouble in the first after the Hawks had a runner on first with one out. However, an Alex Brodie 5-4-3 double play ended the early threat.
In the third, the bottom of the lineup fed the top.
Blake Vineyard cashed in
Albert Hernandez's lead off double with an RBI base knock to get the Tigers on the board first.
In the fourth, the Hawks had a major threat going. After a double and back-to-back walks to load the bases,
Roe Ketchum got out of the jam with a groundout by Kody Krause.
UWA used that momentum on the offensive end in the sixth, and they had a little help by the Shorter defense.
Will Wood reached on a miscue by the shortstop and moved up to second on a wild pitch.
Bryce Newman reached on a bad throw by the SU third baseman and advanced to second on an error. Wood scored on the play to extend the lead to 2-0.
UWA kept the 2-0 lead going into the sixth thanks to a double play started by
Houston Kitterman, but unfortunately, the Hawks erased that and then some in the bottom half of the sixth.
The Hawks scored three runs on two hits and a costly error to take the 3-2 lead.
West Alabama was able to coax a two-out walk off, but the bats went quiet from there. Shorter added a run in the seventh and three in the eighth to capture the 7-2 victory.
Blake Vineyard posted another multi-hit game with a 2-for-4 day with an RBI.
GAME 2: West Alabama 13, Shorter 10
West Alabama started the series finale by cashing in a lead off free pass by
Bryce Newman. After moving to third base, he would later score on a passed ball to get the Tigers on the board first.
In the second, after singles by
Michael Allen Cole,
Sam Smith and Newman to load the bases,
Will Wood scored a two-run single and
Houston Kitterman followed with an RBI knock of his own to make it a 4-0 lead.
After UWA cashed in on three straight walks, a balk by Trevor Nanney scored the sixth run of the game and the fifth of the inning thanks to
Blake Vineyard.
Shorter responded in the bottom of the second with two runs, but the bats stayed hot for West Alabama in the next half inning. Two miscues for the SU defense plated UWA's seventh run, as
Jacob Messina scored from second base.
Jack Beck laced a pinch hit, two-run double down the right field line to swell the lead to 9-2.
With each team going to the bullpens in the final regular season game for both teams, the Hawks plated four runs to make it a 9-6 affair.
The offense kept rolling for UWA in the fourth with four more runs. After
Bryce Newman started the scoring with an RBI fielder's choice, Beck plated another two-run double and later scored on a wild pitch to make it 13-6.
Shorter attempted the rally late with two runs in the fifth and seventh innings, but the Tigers held on to salvage one of the three games this weekend.
Off the bench,
Jack Beck drove in four runs and had two doubles in the win.
Will Wood added three RBIs, while
Sam Smith posted a two-hit game and scored three times.
West Alabama ends the regular season with a 21-26 record and a 12-18 mark in the GSC. Shorter goes to 30-16 and 15-15 after Saturday's action.
