POST GAME NOTES
PENSACOLA, Fla. – Facing a 4-0 deficit for a three-inning span, the University of West Florida baseball team used three innings of hitless relief from
Trace Penton and a four-run eighth inning to tie the game at 4-4 in their opening game of Gulf South Conference Tournament against North Alabama. Unfortunately for the Argos, the Lions won in walk-off fashion, using a one-out RBI single from Ben Cooley to take a 5-4 win in the bottom of the ninth.
"Finally, we got two runs in and were able to tie it up in the eighth," said head coach
Mike Jeffcoat. "We had a chance there in the top of the ninth with the bases loaded, but we just weren't able to get the big hit there."
The Lions jumped to their 4-0 lead with the help of four West Florida errors to score four unearned runs.
Brian Browning made the start for the Argos and did not allow an earned run over four innings of work.
The Argos then turned the game over to
Trace Penton, who worked around some control issues to keep UWF in the ballgame. Penton did not allow a hit through his three innings of shutout relief.
2017 GSC Pitcher of the Year Tyler Joyner held the Argo bats quiet for the first seven innings, but a leadoff double by
Ladeavon Matthews set the tone for a four-run, five-hit top of the eighth inning. Matthews later scored on a double smacked off the centerfield wall by
Justin Ambrosino, forcing UNA to bring Dylan Stewart on to pitch. Immediately after the pitching change,
Chase Kiefer and
Robert Lopez both reached base to give UWF a desirable bases-loaded, one-out situation.
Tanner Halstead converted on the opportunity, scoring Ambrosino on a single to left field.
Matt Sullivan then brought home the game-tying run with a bloop single to left field scoring both Kiefer and Lopez to tie the score at 4-4.
Jarrod Petree entered the game before the start of the bottom of the eighth and posted a scoreless frame. In the top half of the ninth, UWF had another bases-loaded opportunity, but a well-struck ball by Halstead stayed in the air a tad too long as UNA centerfielder T.J. Lockett made the catch to end the inning.
North Alabama started the bottom of the ninth with a leadoff infield single by Trey Mathis and after a picture-perfect sacrifice bunt by Logan Carter and a wild pitch, UNA left fielder Ben Cooley ended the ballgame with a single through the middle of the infield.
All nine players in the UWF lineup recorded at least one hit. Offensively, UWF was led by Lopez, Halstead, and
Nick Kerkmann, who all contributed two hits each.
"All we can do is control what we can control, and that's try and go out and win a ballgame tomorrow against a good West Alabama team. We just got to rest up, try and show some pride and try to get a 'W' tomorrow," said Jeffcoat.
UWF now needs a pair of North Alabama losses and a win in each of its next two games to advance to Tuesday's GSC Tournament Championship. UWF continues round-robin action tomorrow at 8:30 p.m. CT with a contest against No. 2-seeded West Alabama.
