MACON, Ga. -- For the second straight game, Miles opened a five-run lead but was unable to hold on to it. This time, losing the lead cost the Golden Bears their season.
No. 5 Morehouse (24-20) took advantage of seven walks and three hit batters - the final two coming in the ninth inning - to earn a come-from-behind 8-7 over No. 7-seed Miles in an elimination game at the 2026 SIAC Baseball Championship at Luther Williams Field. The final score was identical to the one from its loss on Friday to Edward Waters and in both cases, the Golden Bears could not get the big outs in the late innings.
Against the Maroon Tigers,
Darryl Johnson (5-5) started the ninth inning by getting an out but proceeded to hit the next two batters. He fell behind Cameron Simmons 2-0 before giving up a single down the right field line that scored Elijah James for the game-winning run.
Miles (21-24) looked like it would not be worried about any late-game comebacks through the middle innings.
Antwan Jackson and
Myles Wessels drove in runs in the second for a 2-0 lead but the Maroon Tigers knotted the score in the bottom half of the frame. Then, the Golden Bears posted a 5-spot in the fifth to open a big lead.
Malachi Jeffries double to open in the inning and scored on a wild pitch.
Gregory Willis drove in two runs with a single - his eighth and ninth RBI of the tournament - and ultimately scored on a RBI single by
Kaleb Raston. Jackson would end the scoring with a sacrifice fly that plated Raston for a 7-2 advantage.
At that point, Miles was in good position to pull off another upset as starter
Jaelyn Rhynes was getting through the Morehouse lineup, although he was working through his own wildness. Two walks in the sixth inning both scored. He then surrendered a one-out home run to Simmons in the eighth to cut the Maroon Tigers deficit to two runs. That was the last of his 122 pitches, where he struck out seven but walked six (one intentionally) and hit a batter. Johnson then entered the game but he walked his first batter and surrendered a game-tying, two-run homer to Robert Robertson.
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