DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Three more hours of baseball was played between North Carolina Central University and Bethune-Cookman University, and it took three more extra innings to decide a winner as the Wildcats walked off for the third time in the series to sweep the Eagles 5-4 in 12 innings at Jackie Robinson Ballpark on Sunday, April 24.
A total of nine hours and fifteen minutes was played during the series including six extra innings, with two played in game one, one in game two and three in this game.
This game followed all of the games in the series before it, NCCU (21-22, 8-10) carried a lead for more than five innings, B-CU (19-22, 12-6 MEAC) rallied to tie, and knotted the game going into the final inning of regulation.
The Eagles cobbled together runs in three consecutive innings from the second to the fifth on RBIs from
Zachary Marszal (Cary, Ill.),
Trevor Theissen (Franklin, Wisc.) and a solo home run from
Conrad Kovalcik (Detroit, Mich.) down the right field line started the scoring, and NCCU held a 3-1 lead through five complete innings.
B-CU loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth, but just got one hit on the RBI single from Michael Cruz (Aguadilla, P.R.). After the Eagles pushed in a run on the RBI single from
Ellington Hopkins (Lansing, N.Y.) in the top of the seventh, the Wildcats scratched across a run on a single from Nate Streijevski (Clermont, Fla.) to make the score 4-2 going to the eighth.
The Wildcats loaded the bases again in the bottom of the eight and a two-out flare single from Josten Heron drove in two RBI to square the game at 4-4, and that would be the score going to extras.
The Eagles picked up a pair of hits in the top of the 10th but were unable to push a run in and from that point they were held hitless in extras just like the Wildcats through the first two bonus innings. B-CU finally found the key in the bottom of the 12th as they picked up three straight hits, culminating in the second walkoff hit of the series from Danny Rodriguez (Pembroke Pines, Fla.).
The Eagles will look to bounce back in the midweek at Elon University on Tuesday, April 26 and against Duke University at home on April 27.
