RIVERSIDE, Calif. – For the third consecutive game, the Montana State University Billings baseball team headed to extra innings tied with its opponent 3-3.
In the first two games, the 'Jackets fell victim to walk-off hits in the 10th inning, but on Thursday they battled into the 16th before a line drive off the bat of Cal Baptist's AJ David brought home Andy Crowley for the winning run in a 4-3 CBU victory at Totman Stadium that marked the longest game a Great Northwest Athletic Conference team has ever played in.
Davids's heroics came one night after Jake Gallaway pushed CBU (8-8) to a 4-3 win with a walkoff hit on Wednesday in the 10th inning of the series-opener between the teams. The Yellowjackets (5-13) lost by the score of 4-3 in extra innings for the third game in-a-row.
"We played hard all night," said MSUB head coach
Rob Bishop. "I was really happy with Brady and our bullpen. It was a tough game to lose but I'm proud of how we fought."
The Yellowjackets rallied from a 3-0 deficit with three runs in the fifth, but neither team scored again until David's game-ender 11 innings later.
MSUB starter
Brady Muller turned in his third-straight excellent start, striking out nine and allowing just one earned run in 8 2/3 innings of work. Muller scattered nine hits over the 37 batters he faced, only one of which went for extra bases.
Jacob Foley (0-1) was tagged with his first loss of the season, and he was one of five relievers utilized by the 'Jackets in the extended outing.
Tyson Miller started and threw five innings for CBU, striking out seven and walking three while allowing three runs on six hits. David Herd (3-1) earned the win after throwing the final four innings and striking out five without allowing a hit.
Colter Sternhagen and
Corey Morris were the lone Yellowjackets to collect multiple hits in the game, and MSUB did not have an extra-base hit. Senior
Brody Miller went 1-for-4 with an RBI and three walks, and made nine plays at second base without an error.
A leadoff single by Zack Norris in the first was negated on a nice 6-4-3 double play turned by the 'Jackets to back Muller. A two-out double by Ryan Williams in the second plated the first run of the day as CBU took a 1-0 lead when Taylor Wetzel crossed the plate.
The Lancers made more noise in the fourth, as back-to-back singles by Williams and Nathan Antoun each drove in a run with two outs and made the score 3-0.
Morris led off the fifth with a base hit into center field, kicking off a big inning for the Yellowjackets.
Luke Reinschmidt plated a run with a hit into left, Miller drove one in with a walk and Sternhagen kept the rally going as he tied the score at 3-3 with an RBI-single.
The 'Jackets had another chance in the eighth as
Trevor Nix reached on a fielder's choice and made his way to third with two outs, but reliever Patrick Gonzales got out of the jam and kept the score tied.
Entering the game in a high-leverage situation with the winning run in scoring position at second in the ninth,
Lee Busto struck out Andy Crowley to send the game to extra innings.
The Lancers loaded the bases in the 11th, but with two outs a line drive off the bat of Crowley was snagged by
Kevin Toon at first base. The 'Jackets had a similar opportunity in the 12th with runners on second and third but this time Michael Davis coaxed a groundout off of Sternhagen's bat to end the frame.
Foley had a big punch out to strand a runner on third in the 15th, but CBU took the game the next inning after a sacrifice bunt from Antonio Chavarria set up the winning run at third base.
On the game CBU left 16 runners on base while MSUB left 14. Nix stole the lone base of the game, and each team grounded into one double play.
THE BUZZ: The 'Jackets approached the GNAC record of 60 team at-bats in the game as they finished with 55…Toon and Nix each finished the game with 15 putouts, four shy of the GNAC single-game record held by John Rosti of Northwest Nazarene…Miller is now one hit shy of tying the MSUB career record of 213 held by Matt Schoonover…Muller was selected as the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Game...the previous GNAC record for longest game was set by Saint Martin's this season in a 15-inning 8-6 win over Concordia (Ore.) on Feb. 22 in Portland.
NEXT UP: The teams continue the series on Friday with another 7 p.m. start time at Totman Stadium. The finale is set for a noon Mountain time first pitch.
