Wallace College - Baseball Press Releases

Govs rally to defeat Grand Rapids	2009-03-02
The Wallace Govs seemed to be on cruise control Monday afternoon against the Grand Rapids (Michigan) Raiders. But then came the sixth inning. What had been a four-run lead suddenly turned into a one-run deficit. But all’s well that ends well.
Wallace found another gear and rallied to score three runs in the final three innings. The Govs came from behind to claim an 8-6 victory, improving their season record to 10-6. The Govs seemed to have everything going their way. Starting pitcher Tyler Claburn had zipped through the first five innings and had allowed only one unearned run. His teammates had backed him up by scoring five runs of their own. But in the sixth inning Claburn was replaced by reliever Brandon Swann, and that’s when things fell apart. Swann allowed the first four batters he faced to reach base. He gave up a single and two walks to load the bases, then an RBI single to Dan Taylor. Swann then struck out the next two batters and had a chance to get out of the inning without further damage. But he gave up a two-run double to Tyler Gross, and walked the next batter. With the bases loaded, he then walked Jason Pierce to force in a run before he was replaced. Brett Birdsong came on to get the final out, but not before he gave up another run scoring single. The Govs entered the sixth leading 5-1. They headed into the bottom half trailing 6-5. “Swann is a very good pitcher,” Wallace coach Mackey Sasser said. “He’s coming off arm surgery and he’s just got to get his confidence back. I wouldn’t hesitate to put him out there again.” Swann didn’t have to wait too long to be bailed out, as the Raiders one-run lead quickly vanished. Chris Sasser led off the bottom of the sixth with an infield double when the Raiders failed to catch a pop-up in front of the mound and no one covered second base. Two batters later, Loenardo Lamarche brought him home on a double to right field. The Govs took the lead when Lamarche scored on a Niosergy Rosa single. The Govs added another run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Yeriel Nieves reached base on an error and later scored on a T.J. Rivera single to left field. Birdsong picked up the win for the Govs. Phil Tolman, who pitched the entire game for the Raiders, took the loss. Lamarche had a very good day at the plate for the Govs. He went 4-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs. Rosa was 3-for-5 with a triple, double and three RBIs. The Govs will play Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m. in Marianna against Chipola.