WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Behind a late rally and stellar pitching from Matt Malatesta and Payton MacPherson, the USCB baseball team walked off versus No. 5 Warner, 6-5, in extra innings on Saturday to advance to the Sun Conference Championship on May 8.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Malatesta - five innings, five hits, one run, two walks, five strikeouts
MacPherson - 3.2 innings, win, one hit, no runs, no walks, three strikeouts
Brevon Harper - game-winning RBI single in the 10th, 1-for-5, two RBIs
Brian Meyer - 2-for-4, two singles, two runs
Nick Milhan - 2-for-4, double, single, one run
Kyran Russ - 1-for-5, two-run home run
Clint Sellers - 1-for-4, one RBI
HOW IT HAPPENED
After a 1-2-3 top of the first inning, USCB plated a pair of runs in the home half of the frame. The runs came from Russ' bat when he torched a two-run blast over the left field fence.
Warner cut the deficit in half, 2-1, with a lone run in the top of the second.
USCB and Warner combined for five hits for the next three innings, but neither team was able to score. The Royals had the best chance to plate runs, which came in the fifth, but Malatesta powered through the frame to keep the contest 2-1.
The Royals added on four runs in the next two innings, sixth and seventh frames, to take the 5-2 lead.
After leaving a runner on base in the eighth, USCB had one last chance to come back, and it did that in the ninth. Meyer led off the frame with a single, and Milhan smoked a double to put two runners in scoring position. Meyer touched home via a fielder's choice, and an error allowed Milhan and Harper to move to second and third base. Terrell made it a one-run game, 5-4, with a RBI single to right. After a strikeout, Sellers came up clutch with a one-out, game-tying single. Leandy Castro was intentionally walked to force the bases loaded with one out, but Warner worked out of the jam to force extra innings tied 5-5.
MacPherson continued his dominance on the mound by facing the minimum and inducing the inning-ending double play.
In the bottom of the 10th, Meyer singled to right on the first pitch he saw, and in an 0-2 count, Milhan was hit by a pitch to put two Sand Sharks on base. Meyer worked his way to third via a stolen base to put runners at the corners with no outs. Harper connected with a bloop single (WU infield played in), which gave Meyer enough time to touch home to lift USCB to victory, 6-5.
TEAM RECORD UPDATES
No. 6 USCB - 31-19 overall
No. 5 Warner - 33-20 overall
WHAT'S NEXT?
No. 6 USCB will look to win its first-ever Sun Conference Tournament, as it will face off with No. 1 Southeastern again. USCB handed the Fire a 10-6 defeat to open the TSC tournament on Thursday. The league's championship game is set for 11 a.m. at FITTEAM Ballpark. If an elimination game is necessary, it will follow at the conclusion of the 11 a.m. contest.
