MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Facing the possibility of its season coming to an abrupt end, the Martin Methodist Baseball team dug deep and found a way to claim a 5-2 come-from-behind victory over University of Mobile (Ala.) at the 2014 Southern States Athletic Conference Championship at Paterson Park Thursday morning.
Facing elimination after a first-round defeat to Southern Poly (Ga.) State University Wednesday afternoon, the RedHawks (27-19) responded with one of their biggest victories of the season as starter Blake Beavers allowed just three hits in the three-run victory.
Beavers (and the RedHawks) started slowly, however, as the Rams (30-23) plated a run in the top of the first and another in the top of the second to take an early 2-0 lead.
From there, Beavers buckled down and tossed seven innings of no-hit ball and allowed just four baserunners – two of which came via RedHawk errors – to pick up his eighth victory (8-5) of the season.
Normally the team's seven-inning game specialist, Beavers tossed 133 total pitches in the victory, which marked his second complete game of the year. The sophomore also struck out six Rams in the victory and scattered just three walks in his nine innings of work.
With Beavers twirling on the mound, the RedHawk bats came alive to back up their pitcher as the club slugged out 12 hits – all of which were singles. All five of the RedHawk runs came in the game's middle innings as the squad plated two in the fourth, a solo run in the fifth and then added two more insurance runs in the sixth.
Every RedHawk save for one found their way on to the scoresheet via the hit column, highlighted by catcher Brandon Bush's 3-for-4 effort. The No. 8 and No. 9 holes were kind to the RedHawks in the lineup as second baseman Jimbo Ramsey added a 2-for-4 performance at the plate and the duo combined for five of the RedHawk hits on the afternoon.
In addition to Bush and Ramey, Seth Staggs (2-for-4) and Evan Fergerson (1-for-2) also added one run batted in apiece. Erick Bonifacio finished without a hit in his three official at-bats, but drove in the game's go-ahead run when he was hit by a pitch in the fifth inning.
Rams starter Jeff Price, who entered the tournament as one of the league's top starters, allowed all five of the RedHawks runs in the loss (8-4) on the mound. Price also allowed 11 of the RedHawks 12 hits in his 5.1 innings of work.
With the win, the RedHawks kept their season alive for at least another day and also bolstered their resume for a potential at-large berth to the NAIA National Tournament, which begins at Opening Round Regional sites later this month.
The RedHawks victory also ensured a date on the third day of the SSAC Championship as the RedHawks will take on No. 2 seed Brewton-Parker (Ga.) College in an elimination game Friday morning at 10 a.m.
The Barons (31-10) were stunned Thursday afternoon, 10-6, by Southern Poly in a winner's bracket matchup. The Barons took two of three games from the RedHawks in the regular-season series, but fell behind 10-1 in Thursday's loss before scoring five runs in the top of the ninth inning.
