KIRKSVILLE, Mo.--After splitting a series at William Jewell last weekend, the Truman baseball team came home to take on Southwest Baptist and topped the Bearcats 10-8 in an 11 inning thriller. In a game with many twists and turns, Jake Schneider hit a bomb to left center field in the bottom of the 11th to give the Bulldogs their third win in five games.
SBU took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, but in the bottom of the third the Bulldogs finally got something going against Bearcats starter Cole Van Every. Schneider walked to open the inning, and Brendan Kelly was hit by a pitch to put two on with nobody out. On a routine groundball, Sam Smith reached on an error by the pitcher as the throw was off target. Both runners came in to score and the speedy Smith would advance to third. Two batters later, Steven Bradbury singled to right to drive Smith in. Kory Carter came up next and his hot bat still had some pop as the National Player of the Week hit a towering shot that hugged inside the right field pole to make it 5-1.
SBU got one back in the top of the fifth, but Truman answered in the bottom of the frame. Bradbury led off reaching after being hit by a pitch, then stole second. Two batters later Will Fromm walked to put two on for Holden Missey. Missey singled through the left side to bring Bradbury in to score. It was 6-2 heading into the sixth.
Once more SBU got one across in the top of the frame, but Truman would answer. Smith walked and Kevin Donohue bunt singled to put two on with nobody out. Both runners stole their next base. With one out, Carter was intentionally walked to load the bases. Jack Darwin replaced Justin Maloney in the DH spot and walked to bring in a run to make it 7-3. Missey brought another run in on a groundout to make it 8-3. But the game was about to take a drastic turn.
SBU put five across in the top of the seventh, and tied the game. But in another turn, it became a pitcher's duel. Drew Wagner was now pitching in relief for the Bearcats and Truman had also called to the pen. Jack Owens had relieved starter Connor McKenna, who threw five innings. After a relatively quick sixth, Owens saw his pitch count elevate in the seventh and Jaren Guck came in to finish out the seventh. In the eighth, Alex Leary came in for Guck, and it would be Wagner and Leary seeing who would blink first for the rest of the game.
Truman had a chance to break the tie in the bottom of the eighth with runners on second and third. But Wagner pitched his way out of the jam to move to the ninth. The ninth and tenth were quiet, and Leary pitched a 1-2-3 top of the 11th. With one out in the bottom of the 11th, Evan Kayser singled. Scheneider came up after and launched a no doubt shot into deep left center to walk off a 10-8 win.
Leary got the win for the Bulldogs, first of his career to improve to 1-1 on the season. He didn't allow a hit in 3.2 innings of work with no runs against. Wagner pitched five innings for SBU, only allowing two runs, but dropped to 1-4 as he took the loss.
The teams will be back at it tomorrow with a doubleheader starting at noon.
