Box Score Waleska, GA – The road to Lewiston ended on Tuesday for the Mighty Oaks baseball team, as they faced off against Ave Maria University in an elimination game. After fourteen innings of baseball, the Gyrenes walked away as winners with a walk-off homerun.
Marcos Arocho led-off the game with a solo homerun, giving the Oaks a quick 1-0 lead. The lead did not last very long, as Ave Maria answered in the bottom half of the inning with a 2-run homerun. The Gyrenes added three more runs, with another homerun in the bottom of the second, making it a 1-5 ballgame.
With two outs in the top of the third inning,
Xander Willis hit a double down the left field line. He was able to score the second Mighty Oaks run when
Moises Rosario reached base on a throwing error from the shortstop.
In the bottom of the fifth, Ave Maria added a run, moving the score to 2-6. The Mighty Oaks did not give up as they took the lead in the sixth and seventh inning. Two runs scored in the sixth after singles from
Josh Russell and
Fred Fernandez, followed by 2-RBI double from Keifer Wilsom. An inning later, the Oaks took the lead.
Marcos Arocho started the inning with a walk. Back-to-back homeruns from
Xander Willis and
Moises Rosario followed, to make it a 7-6 ballgame.
A single from
Xander Willis and a double from
Josh Russell added an insurance run in the top of the ninth, making it 8-6. With three outs remaining, the Gyrenes came back and tied the score at eight, forcing extra innings. In the eleventh, Oakland City took the lead again. With the bases loaded, pinch hitter
Noah Boon hit a sacrifice fly which scored
Kendric Sorgius (single). Unfortunately for the Oaks, Ave Maria came with an answer once again, tying the game up at nine. As a result, more baseball was played. Oakland City was not able to score any more runs, before the Gyrenes lead-off hitter hit a 2-run homerun to left field to walk it off for the team from Florida.
Xander Willis led the squad with four hits, including a double and a homerun. Five pitchers toed the rubber for Oakland City.
Gehrig Tenhumberg (2 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO) started the game. His relievers were
Luis Pezzotti (2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO),
Landen Ray (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO),
Owen Spears (2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 SO) and
Dicky Gonzalez (L, 6.2 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO).
With this loss to Ave Maria, the Oaks are eliminated from the NAIA postseason. However, they are not done quite yet, as they earned an at-large selection into the NCCAA World Series. Oakland City will be the No. 1 seed in Kansas City, MO. The ten-team double elimination tournament starts on Saturday, when the Oaks will play at 6:00 PM.
