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| Southern Union rallies in the ninth to defeat Wallace | 2007-05-14 |
| In a tournament filled with late inning rallies, the Wallace Govs became the latest victim of one. Wallace went into the ninth inning of their game against Southern Union leading by two runs. But two runs proved not to be enough. | |
 The Bison sent eight players to plate in the final inning and scored four run. This latest comeback gave the Bison a 10-8 victory.The win means the Bison will play the loser of the Southern Union/Central contest at 3:30 today. The host team Wallace Govs have been eliminated. “It was a typical third game of the tournament,� Wallace coach Mackey Sasser said. “Both teams were hitting the ball. We battled back, but in that last inning we left of couple of balls out over the plate and they took advantage of them.� Both teams did hit the ball well. There were a total of 35 hits in the game. Wallace had 18, Southern Union had 17. There were only five total strike out in the contest. As has been the case in most of the game in this year’s tournament, the action heats up in the late innings. After the sixth inning, Southern Union led 6-5. It was the seventh inning that Wallace took a late inning lead. The inning began with a walk to Ryan Reece and a single by Brett Chamberlain. After Ernesto Gonzales grounded into a double play, Harman Watkins doubled to center field to plate Reece. Two batters later, Cody Shields single to knock in Watkins. That put Wallace up 7-6. In the eighth inning, the Govs scored what at time seemed like an insurance run. Andrew Starr, who had homered earlier in the game, got things started with a solid single to center. After two were out, Gonzales got his second hit of the game. This time it was an RBI double down the left field line. Wallace had an 8-6 lead going into the ninth. Meanwhile, Wallace pitcher Cody Shields had been rolling along. He hadn’t allowed a run since he came on in relief in the sixth inning. But in the ninth, Shields hit the first batter he faced, Matt Carter. Matt Carter followed that up with a single to center field. The Bison attempted to bunt the runners over, but Wallace was able to get the lead runner at third base. But then Jason Rogers singled to left field to load the bases. Brandon Teague then got the hit that insured the Bison would at least have the opportunity to play on. He doubled to center field, bringing in two runs and tying the game. Two batters later, the Bison took the lead. Cody Green hit a single to center field, scoring two runs. That gave the Bison a 10-8 lead. Wallace got the first runner on in the bottom of the ninth when Jon Eaves walked, but he was quickly erased on a double play. The Govs were able to get one more base runner, but the game ended on a fly out. Despite the loss, the Govs had several player who had huge days at the plate. Shields went 3-for-6 with two RBIs. Watkins was 3-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI. Brett Chamberlain was 3-for-5 “I am proud of my guys,� Sasser said. “I can say that enough. We had to over come a lot of adversity this year. But the guys did everything I asked of them. I am really going to miss the sophomores. We’ve already had some guys to sign, and I expect a few more to. These guys are going to have a lot of success in life.� | |
| © Wallace Community College |
