Baseball drops rubber match to West Alabama
Box Score
After splitting the first two battles of the season, Miles hoped to take the third, and final, regular season game from West Alabama on Wednesday afternoon.
The Golden Bears grabbed an early lead, fell way behind, got close, but ultimately dropped the rubber match to the Tigers, 15-8, at a cold, historic Rickwood Field.
Roderick Ransom had two hits and drove in two runs but UWA (16-7) put up crooked numbers in each of the last five innings to send Miles (8-8) to its third consecutive defeat.
Miles scored in the first inning when
Ryan Bargery, who had two hits, scored the first on a UWA error. The Tigers would knot the game in the third when Nick Delgado scored on a double play ball. But West Alabama took the lead for good in the fifth.
A couple of mental mistakes on defense helped UWA jump on Miles starter
Jacob Schuster (0-2) and reliever
Christopher Elias. A 2-run single by Tyler Lee was sandwiched by run-scoring hits by Luke Phillips, Dylan Little and Joel Murphy to put the Golden Bears in a 6-1 hole. Brock Montgomery would add a 2-run single in the sixth and UWA owned a seven-run advantage.
But Miles fought back in the bottom of the sixth against UWA reliever Colton Morgan.
Peyton Logan and Ransom each had 2-run singles as part of a five-run inning.
Gary Mason, Jr. came to the plate with the tying runs on base but flied out to left to end the threat. West Alabama continued to tack on runs against the Miles bullpen to reopen a big lead.
Trevor Bates drove in a run on a fielder's choice and scored on a passed ball in the ninth to close out the scoring.
Braxton Wallace (1-0), who pitched three innings of relief, earned the win for UWA. The Golden Bears are back in action beginning Saturday, as they travel to Benedict for a three-game series to open SIAC play. The first pitch of a doubleheader is set for noon.
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