Crabtree Earns First Win at SE

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Easton Elliott's walk-off RBI single in the ninth inning lifted Southeastern to a 7-6 win over in-state rival Central Oklahoma to earn head coach Zach Crabtree his first win with the Savage Storm.
 
SE moves to 1-2 on the year and will face Emporia State at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon to close out the Airhogs Division II Tournament.
 
Travis Spinney opened the ninth inning by drawing a walk, moving to second on a balk and third on a wild pitch before Elliott connected on an RBI single to bring in the game-winning run.
 
UCO put up a run in the third and two more in the fourth to open a 3-0 lead early, but three-straight one-out hits in the bottom half of the fourth would get SE on the board thanks to Brett Akins two-run double and Joseph Cerda would tie the game later in the inning when he scored on an error to make it 3-3.
 
The Bronchos would take advantage of an SE error in the top of the sixth to briefly regain the lead at 4-3, but Cade Clay would drive in two on a single in the bottom half of the inning to go up 5-4 and would later score on a Jett Swigart hit to make the lead 6-4.
 
UCO would add two runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game at 6-6 where it would stay until the bottom of the ninth.
 
Elliott, Cerda and Clay each collected a pair of hits, with Cerda and Clay driving in two runs each while Elliott and Swigart had one RBI apiece.
 
Jake Patterson collected the win in relief after tossing 2.0 innings and allowing a hit while facing just seven batters.
 
Bryce Deatherage got the start and tossed 6.0 innings, allowing four runs, three earned, on seven hits while striking out five.
 
Scott Brinkley followed with an inning of work and allowed two runs on two hits.