Pikeville, KY – Bears baseball made their most impressive late-inning comeback of the season Tuesday afternoon, fighting back from an 8-1 deficit in the final three innings before claiming the 12-11 victory over Emory & Henry (NCAA DII) on a walk-off hit by pitch.
Cam Revolt has shown flashes of big-time play making ability this season, none more convincing than today's grand slam in the eighth inning. The blast was a no-doubter and put him as the team leader in home runs with three, also bringing the Bears to within three runs. Revolt filled the stat sheet, hitting a triple short of the cycle with six RBIs and a pair of runs scored.
In what was a stellar eighth frame for the Bears, DeMarco Miller followed Revolt with a solo shot over the left-field fence which made it a 11-10 ballgame. Miller put together a stellar performance at the plate, going 2-3 with three RBIs and a pair of runs scored. Miller's final at-bat saw the junior reach on a hit by pitch which scored the winning run in walk-off fashion.
The Bears dug deep in the bullpen against the Wasps, throwing seven pitchers in total.
Ty Yates got the start and went an inning and an out before
Ty Crall finished up the second with a strikeout.
Jairemy Pulido hurled an inning and struck out a pair before
Grayson Harris came in for three innings and struck out three, giving up three runs.
Nolan Fernandes and
Ethan Cernohous both threw an inning before
Ryan Ratliff came in the close the contest. Ratliff did a job in his first win of the season, allowing no runs on a single which set up the walk-off opportunity for the Bears.
Early on the Wasps held the offensive momentum as they piled on five runs in the first two innings. The Bears got off to a hot start at the plate thanks to
Tyler Freas who led off the first inning with a triple lasered into right center. Freas scored on the following play via a towering sacrifice fly by
Eduardo Bello.
The third, fourth, and fifth innings were scoreless for both teams, despite the Bears putting a pair of runners on including
Jared Kirkman who led off the third with a single through the left side. Emory & Henry tacked on three runs in the sixth to take an 8-1 lead.
Noah Helton led off the bottom of the seventh with a shot down the third base line, nabbing a double thanks to heads up base running as the ball trickled into the outfield. Revolt crossed Helton with a double on the next at-bat and was scored a few pitches later via Miller who singled to left center. The comeback began to heat up and on the next at bat, Kirkman sent a hard grounder through the legs of the third basemen which scored Miller to make it 8-4.
Emery & Henry got in on the late game offense with three runs of their own in the top of the eighth inning. UPIKE followed up with a four hit, six run inning which featured both home runs, a Bello double, and a
Ryan Sartin single. Sartin also scored in the inning, stealing second which caused a throwing error and allowed him to score the ninth run. Heading into the ninth the Bears trailed 11-10.
The top of the ninth saw the Wasps put two runners on via a double and a fielders choice but the Bears defense stepped up to bring them out of the inning unscathed. Sartin took out the lead runner on short to third putout before Swails, Revolt, and Bello teamed up for the final out at the plate.
Bello singled to lead off the bottom of the ninth, followed by Helton who reached on a hit by pitch. Revolt knocked his fourth hit of the day to tie the game, crossing
Zach Hill who pinch ran for Bello. The Wasps decided to load the bases to create the force out at home, setting up the subsequent walk-off hit by pitch which scored Helton.
The Bears take the momentum into this weekend's home series with Campbellsville which is set to begin with game one on Friday, March 25
th at 2:00 PM. All three games will be streamed live via the
UPIKE Sports Network.
