Lawrenceville, Georgia- Despite outhitting their opening round opponent, 17-11, a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth proved to be the undoing for #3 seed Edward Waters in their 11-10 loss to #2 seed Fisher at the Continental Athletic Conference Baseball Championship at the Grizzly Baseball Complex on Saturday evening.
Errors and runners left on base also seriously affected the Tigers (24-25) chances at victory. Edward Waters left 11 runners stranded on the basepaths and racked up three critical errors, which ultimately looomed large in the final decision.
Edward Waters fell behind early in the bottom half of the 1st inning as the Falcons scored three runs, including a two-run homer to take a 3-0 lead.
The Tigers pulled two runs back in the top of the 3rd on an Anthony Roman RBI single and a Daiton Pass RBI sacrifice fly to come to within a run of the Falcons. Fisher pushed the lead back out to three in the bottom of the 3rd, scoring two runs to make it a 5-2 game.
John Dominguez came through in the top of the 4th on an RBI single to pull EWU back within two at 5-3.
EWU came back within one of Fisher thanks to an RBI single from Daquarius Thompkins to make it a 5-4 ballgame. Fisher used the long ball once again in the bottom of the 5th with a three-run homerun to push the lead to 8-4.
The Purple & Orange got to work once again in the top of the 6th with an Adrian Laro RBI double and a John Nobles RBI single to pull them within two at 8-6.
In the top of the 7th, Edward Waters captured the lead for the first time all game with three runs. A Dominguez RBI single and a Laro two-RBI single gave the Tigers a 9-8 lead. Fisher tied things up in the bottom of the 7th on an RBI sacrifice fly to make it a 9-9 game.
Edward Waters recaptured the lead in the top of the 8th with an RBI single from Leonel Garcia, giving the Tigers a 10-9 advantage. Fisher tied things up in the bottom of the 8th in an RBI single to knot things up at 10-10.
EWU could not scratch the go-ahead run in the top of the 9th despite runners on 2nd & 3rd and unfortunately, that would loom large.
With two outs and runners at first & third, a wild pitch proved to be the difference, allowing the game-winning run to score for Fisher and send EWU to the Loser's Bracket.
Leonel Garcia led EWU going 4-for-5 at the plate, while Adrian Laro finished 3-for-4 with three RBI's and two runs scored.
Frank Grimaldi was charged with the loss for EWU in relief. Starter Alexander Davila earned a no-decision going 5.0 innings and striking out three batters.
Edward Waters will look to stave off elimination on Sunday afternoon at 3:00pm against #4 seed Iowa Weslayan.
Original source can be found here.
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