BABSON PARK, Fla. (March 6, 2018) – The Webber International University Baseball team's late comeback effort just fell short to Shawnee State University as the Warriors lost 6-5 after 10 innings on Tuesday night on the Heart of Florida Field.
The Warriors showed a lot of fight as they trailed 4-0 early in the game, and then facing a one-run deficit in the ninth inning, Webber (11-10) pushed across the tying run on a walk by
Cristian Rivera to make it 4-4 and force extra innings. Shawnee State (8-7), however, would tack on two more runs in the top of the 10th inning.
Webber answered back with a run in the final half inning as
Manny Rodriguez scored on a wild pitch, but the Warriors were unable to put anything else together despite the valiant effort.
After a rough first two innings,
Tanner White settled down and held the Bears scoreless over the next four innings to keep it close as the Warriors began to chip away and make their comeback attempt.
In the seventh inning, Webber scored twice as
Jesse Coleman walked to bring in Rodriguez while
Quirino Esquivel added an RBI hit through the left side to plate
Chris Medina.
After three innings of scoreless pitching by relief pitcher
Donovan Bertoncini, the Warriors loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning as Rivera drew his game-tying walk after facing an 0-2 count to start. The inning featured four walks in total for the Warriors with Medina,
Brett Kaminski and
Marcus Begg receiving the other free passes before a strikeout ended the inning with the winning run,
Tyree Austin, only 90 feet away.
Although the loss snapped Webber's seven-game win streak, the Warriors did win four out of the five games they played in a four-day span on the Heart of Florida Field, including a win over the then-ranked No. 9 team in the country, Bellevue University.
In the latest edition of the NAIA Baseball Coaches' Top 25 Poll, the Warriors were the fifth team receiving votes and are one of four Sun Conference teams named in the poll, joining No. 3 Southeastern University, No. 9 Saint Thomas University and No. 13 Keiser University.
The Warriors will continue their 13-game home stand as they host Indiana University South Bend at 1 p.m. and Rochester College at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 9.
