MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (April 16, 2021) – Despite leading 7-6 in the eighth inning, the nationally-recognized Webber International University baseball team opened up The Sun Conference Series of the Week at No. 18 St. Thomas University with a heartbreaking 9-8 loss in 12 innings on Friday evening at Paul Demie Mainieri Field.

Down 8-7 in the top of the ninth inning, Weber's Steven Lugo and Dominique Collie Jr. both walked to put two runners on with nobody out, and then after a sacrifice bunt by Bryan Eusebio, Luis Acevedo came up with an RBI-groundout to second base to score Collie Jr. and tie the game at 8-8. Unfortunately, a swinging strikeout by the Warriors left the go-ahead run at third base.

After two quick outs in the bottom of the ninth, Rey Rodriguez got a lineout to the shortstop to strand the winning run on second base.

Thomas Lopez Jr. (4-1) then kept the game going with scoreless 10th and 11th innings, but in the bottom of the 12th, St. Thomas started it off with a leadoff single to right field. The runner for the Bobcats advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt, and then advanced to third on a throwing error by Lopez Jr. trying to pick him off at second base. That led to an intentional walk as the Warriors tried to set up a double play opportunity to get out of the inning, and they did get a ground ball to third base, but were unable to make a clean throw from second to first to finish it off.

In addition to being a battle of two teams tied in The Sun Conference standings at 12-6, it was also the beginning of the final Sun Conference series on the road this season for Webber, which fell to 25-19 overall and 12-7 in conference games. St. Thomas, meanwhile, improved to 28-16 and 13-6.

It was a good start to the game for Webber as Rougie Odor singled to center field with one out in the top of the first inning and then scored one batter later on a double down the left field line by Lugo.

In the bottom of the first, Webber's starting pitcher, Xavier Rodriguez, got a 4-6-3 double play to stranded a runner on third base, and then in the second inning he got another 4-6-3 double play followed by a lineout to again keep a runner only 90 feet away.

However, in the bottom of the third inning, St. Thomas tied it and then took the lead with its first home run of the game, a two-out, three-run homer to left field.

In the top of the fourth, Webber cut its deficit down to one at 4-3 as Collie Jr. led off with a double to left field and Eusebio was hit by the pitch before a sacrifice bunt by Acevedo moved the two runners into scoring position with one out. Angel Diaz followed with a single to left center to score Collie Jr., and then with two outs, Diaz stole second base and drew an errant throw from the catcher, which allowed Eusebio to score and make it on a one-run game.

Webber kept its momentum going with a three-run top of the fifth inning to retake the lead at 6-4. Collie Jr. had his third hit in three at bats, this time a one-out triple to right field to score Odor and give the Warriors the lead, and then Collie Jr. scored himself on a sacrifice fly to center field by Eusebio.

In the top of the sixth inning, Webber added to its lead as Orlando Pena led off with a single through the right side, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Cale Jones, and then scored on a double to left field by Norberto Navarro.

After entering the game in the bottom of the sixth inning, R. Rodriguez stranded runners on the corners with a swinging strikeout, and then in the bottom of the seventh, he stranded the tying run on second base by recording three straight outs, including back-to-back swinging strikeouts to end the inning.

However, in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Bobcats broke through against R. Rodriguez with their second home run of the game, a two-out, two-run shot off the batter's eye in straight away center field to make Webber have to answer again in the ninth inning.

With the loss for Webber, it is now St. Thomas that finds itself in the driver's seat to take over second place in the conference standings.

Games two and three of the series between Webber and St. Thomas will start at 12 p.m. tomorrow on Saturday, April 17.