CENTRAL, S.C. – After suffering a lopsided loss in game one the Warriors rallied for an extra inning win in game two to split the doubleheader with No. 17 Southern Poly State on Saturday.
The Warriors dropped game one by a score of 15-0, picking up only two hits in the process. In game two the Warriors responded with a come-from-behind win in 11 innings, 7-6.
Game One
Not much went the way of the Warriors in game one as the Hornets scored early and often. SPSU put up a run in six of the seven innings, scoring four in the second after a pair of errors on the infield led to all the runs scoring. The Warriors committed four errors in the game but that was hardly the issue as the Hornets picked up 17 hits.
Tyler Lollis and Justin Brew had the lone hits for the Warriors, Lollis with a single by the third basemen in the second and Brew with a pinch-hit single to short in the seventh. Matt Miller shut down the Warriors with five innings of one-hit ball to pick up the win and improve to 4-3. Matt Buss took the loss after 4.1 innings of work to fall to 2-3.
Game Two
Two extra inning rallies gave the Warriors a 7-6 win in 11 innings in the series finale. The Warriors fell behind early 1-0 but took a 2-1 lead in the second. Three straight from the Hornets put Southern Poly on top 4-2 after four innings. SWU got closer with a run in the fifth and SPSU answered with a run in the seventh.
SWU then scored twice in the seventh to tie the game. In the 10th the Hornets took the lead with a run in the top half of the inning but SWU rallied to score in the bottom half as Johnny Ponder lined a single off the diving glove of the second basemen to score Zack Oberlies who doubled to lead off the inning.
In the 11th Drew Carson drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a bunt from Just Brew and went to third on a throwing error from the catcher. After the Hornets intentionally walked Oberlies to load the bases, Julio Lara lined a single to left, his fifth hit of the game, to bring home Carson for the game-winner.
Lara was on base six times in the game with five hits and a walk as the Warriors pounded out 17 hits as four players had multi-hit efforts in addition to Lara. Brew had his first multi-hit game with two hits and Oberlies, J.J. Julian and Tyler Bice also had two hits.
Oberlies also picked up his first win of the season on the mound with 1.1 innings of shutout baseball. Oberlies came on in the 10th and allowed just one walk and struck out two. Julian also pitched effectively in relief with 3.1 innings of work, giving up just one run.
The game was a wild one as SPSU had 15 hits and four errors and the Warriors had 17 hits and four errors. SWU left 21 men on base while SPSU left 15 on base.
