Bombers Win On Walk-Off In Ninth
Box Score


On Sunday night in College Park the College Park Bombers defeated the Big Train 8-7 in come from behind fashion after they got the winning run when K.C. Warden (Ohio Dominican) singled to drive in Jeremy Jakubowski (Saint Joseph's) with one out in the ninth inning.

Going into the bottom of the eighth the Big Train held a 7-5 lead, but the Bombers never gave up and rallied to score two runs to tie the game.

Through the first three innings both teams were held scoreless in part to the good pitching from Big Train starter Ben Tootle (Jacksonville State) and to the fine defensive plays by the Bombers. Two sparkling outfield assists kept the Big Train from scoring early. In the first inning the Bombers RF AJ Casario (Maryland) threw Big Train RF Clay Whittemore (Jacksonville State) out at the plate to end the inning. It happened again in the third when Bombers CF Jakubowski threw Big Train 3B Chris Duffy (Central Florida) out at the plate as he was trying to score from second off Whittemore's single.

In a game that had five lead changes it was the Bombers who scored first when Warden laced a single into centerfield to score a pair in the bottom of the fourth.

The Big Train got on the board for the first time with three runs in the fifth. CF Pat Minogue (Nothern Illinois) and Duffy led off the inning with walks and were moved into scoring position by a sacrifice bunt by Evan Friedland (Michigan State). Bert Smith (Jacksonville State) then followed with a clutch base hit into right field that scored Minogue. Steven Leach (Jacksonville State) then added an RBI single to score Duffy. The third run scored when the pitcher failed to glove Eli Boike's (Michigan State) hit up the middle.

But the Bombers countered with two more runs when Joel Gonzalez (Maryland-Eastern Shore) scored off a wild pitch while Brandon Mise (Maryland) was batting, who then hit a sacrifice fly to score Cody Collins (Delaware Tech), making the score 4-3.

In the top half of the sixth the Big Train again got the bats going. With two outs Friedland started the rally with an infield base hit. Smith then smashed a double to put runners on second and third. The Big Train continued their string of consecutive hits with another RBI single from Leach and an RBI hit from Whittemore when he slapped a single through the right side of the infield. Andrew Foster (Bowling Green) capped off the scoring with a bloop single to right field that was misplayed by the rightfielder scoring both Leach and Whittemore.

Tootle then settled down and only gave up one more run over the next two innings and received the no-decision. On the night he went 7 innings and gave up 7 hits and 5 runs. He was helped by an excellent defense behind him that had no errors, highlighted by a spectacular diving stop by Friedland in the seventh to save a run and a hit.

In the eighth inning the Big Train relievers got into some trouble by walking a few and then hit Gonzalez to force in the tying run. On the Bombers side, relief pitching cruised through the final three innings as Bombers LHP Randy Mower (Saint Joseph's) went the final 3 1/3 innings giving up only 2 hits and allowing no runs to get the win. In the bottom of the ninth Jakubowski led off the inning with a single and stole two bases to put the winning run on third base. After getting one out the Big Train intentionally walked two batters to load the bases when Warden came up to the plate and ended the game with the base hit to right centerfield.

W: Mower (1-0)
L: Matta (0-1)

Time of Game: 2 hours, 39 minutes
Attendance: 258