JACKSON, Miss. - For the second straight week, the Belhaven Blazers walked off in the bottom of the 10th inning, taking a doubleheader sweep over the Ozarks, 13-0 and 4-3, on Thursday night from Smith-Wills Stadium.
After a 13-0 game in the opener, the Blazers had trouble figuring out Ozarks starter Gyeongju Kim, who had a perfect game through six innings. Trailing 3-0,
Terrell Hodges broke the bid in the bottom of the seventh inning, reaching on an error.
After a pop up to put the no hitter at 6.1 innings,
Daniel Ammirati broke the no-hit bid with a single through the right side.
Next up,
Stephen Sexton broke the shutout with a base knock through the left side, scoring Hodges from third base.
After a scoreless top of the eighth, BU tacked on its second run to cut the deficit to one, 3-2, in the bottom half.
Reed Bolton placed a perfect bunt to reach base with one out. Two batters later, after Bolton stole second base, Hodges sent a fly ball to right center field for an RBI triple, but the senior, trying to tie the game with an inside-the-park home run, would be out at the plate to end the inning.
After
Chase Birch pitched a scoreless top of the ninth, BU needed a late rally.
Kreg Garner led off the inning with a walk off of starter Kim, who left the game after allowing the free pass. Then closer, Jacob Barker, tried to slam the door for UO, but the Blazers had other plans.
After Ammirati moved Garner to second on an infield single, Sexton moved him to third on a fly out. With runners at the corners,
Will Costinett singled in Garner to tie the game, forcing the contest to extra innings.
Austin Douglas (2-1) continued the dominance of the Belhaven pitching Friday night with a 1-2-3 top half of the 10th.
In the bottom of the 10th,
JG Miley led of the inning with a walk. After moving to second on a wild pitch, pinch hitter
Gabe Veith sent a flied out to right field. Miley tagged to get to third base, but the senior scored the winning run on an errant throw that sailed high at third base.
This is the second consecutive week for a game-winning run in extras. Last Friday, Costinett walked off with a two-run home run. Belhaven is 3-1 this season in extra innings.
For the Ozarks, Kim pitched eight-plus innings, allowing two earned on four hits and one walk while striking out 11.
In his return to the rotation,
Tyler Wolfe pitched well for the Green and Gold, tossing eight innings, with two earned runs on five hits and two walks with eight punchouts.
In the opener of the doubleheader,
Tanner Cable (4-2) tossed six shutout innings for BU, allowing four hits and walks each, while striking out eight in the Blazers (21-14, 10-10) 13-0 win over the Eagles (9-21, 3-14).
Ryan Wesson scored the first two runs in the bottom half of the first thanks to a two-base error, scoring Ammirati and Hodges.
In the second, Hodges smashed a two-run shot for his eighth homer of the year to make it 4-0 in favor of the Green and Gold.
In the third, BU tacked three more runs across, two were scored via an Ozarks error off the bat of Sexton to bring home
Julyan Urena and Garner.
Hodges brought home Garner for the third run of the inning on an infield hit to make it 7-0.
In the fourth, Costinett put the run column to double digits with a three-run dinger for his 11th bomb of the year.
Trip Benson made the contest 11-0 on a base knock to center field, scoring Miley.
BU added two more runs in the sixth. With the bases loaded,
Josh King drew a full count walk, while Hodges scored the 13th run of the game via a wild pitch.
The Green and Gold will look to take the series sweep on Friday against the Ozarks, beginning at 1 p.m. from Smith-Wills Stadium. Prior to first pitch, 10 seniors will be recognized in honor of Senior Day.
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