Wallace College - Baseball Press Releases

Wallace falls to Jeff State in ACCC Tourney	2008-05-11
HANCEVILLE—This time there was no late inning magic. In their opening round game of the ACCC State Tournament, three times the Wallace Govs battled from behind against the Jeff State Pioneers. The problem was, they needed a fourth. Jeff State scored three runs in the top of the ninth inning, and that made the difference. The Pioneers won 8-5 and sent the Govs to the loser’s bracket.
“The difference was relief pitching,” Wallace coach Mackey Sasser said. “They had a guy they could count on down the stretch, and all season long we haven’t had anybody who has proven they could get hitters out consistently.” The Govs had rallied to tie the game in the eighth inning, 5-5. So all Wallace needed to do was hold the Pioneers in the top of the half of the ninth in order to give themselves a chance to win the ball game. But that didn’t happen. The second batter of the inning, Chris Sosebee, hit a solo home run off reliever Adam Oliver to give the Pioneers the lead. And that was just the beginning. Greg Casenoier followed with a double down the left field line, chasing Oliver from the game. Hunter Green came in and immediately ran into trouble of his own. He hit the first batter he faced, then threw a wild pitch to put runners at second and third base. Chris Franklin then hit a sacrifice fly to plate the second run, followed by an RBI single from Jimmy Dunn. Green did manage to get the third out, but the damage had been done. The Govs did have a glimmer of hope however. A single and a walk put the tying run at the plate. But the Govs were unable to score. Franklin was a one man wrecking crew against the Govs. He hit two home runs, two doubles, and had three RBIs in the game. He started the game at third base, but pitched the final two innings of the contest so he also picked up the win. The Govs did get two home runs of their own in the game. Ryan Reece and Jonathan Eaves both hit solo shots that cleared the scoreboard in left field. The loss means the Govs will have a quick turnaround. Wallace will play at noon Sunday against Central, even though they didn’t get back to their hotel until after 11 p.m. The Govs lost two of the three games they played against Central earlier this year. And to make matters worse, a night of little rest turned into even less rest because of tornadoes in the Cullman area. Weather warning sirens went off in the team’s hotel, prompting Wallace and Central to spend a lot time huddled together in the hall of their hotel.