SE Rallies for 11 inning Win over OBU

DURANT, OKLA. – After 14 hits over 11 innings, it was a Joseph Cerda sac fly that plated Travis Spinney in bottom of the 11^th that provided the winning run in a 6-5 series-opening victory for Southeastern over Ouachita Baptist on Friday afternoon at The Ballpark in Durant.
 
The win lifts the Savage storm to 12-16 overall and 7-9 in Great American Conference play with the final two games slated for a double-header at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
 
Bryce Deatherage and Austin Ferguson each tallied three hits, while Easton Elliott and Jett Swigart added two each.
 
Spinney and Elliott would post a pair of RBI apiece, while Cerda and Cade Clay added one RBI each.
 
Cody Nitson got the start and tossed 7.0 innings in a no decision, allowing four runs on nine hits with four strikeouts.
 
Jake Patterson came on and recorded a 1-2-3 inning before handing the ball to Hayden Grimes who had 3.0 innings of work, allowing a run on a hit and recording the victory.
 
OBU got on the board first, putting up four runs on six hits in the top of the second inning.
 
After back-to-back singles from Ortiz and Deatherage in the bottom of the third, Spinney would double in a pair of runs and cut the deficit in half to 4-2.
 
Later in the fifth a Ferguson double was followed with a two-out double by Elliott to drive him in and close the gap to 4-3 after five.
 
The Storm would tie the game in the seventh with Deatherage singling to open the inning and scoring on a two-out Elliott single to make it 4-4.
 
SE would take the lead in the bottom of the eighth when Swigart came around and scored on a Clay pinch-hit single that deflected off the pitcher's glove through the right side of the infield, opening up a 5-4 advantage.
 
However, the Tigers would pick up a run in the top of the ninth to even the score at 5-5 and force extra innings.

After a scoreless 10^th, SE headed to the bottom of the 11^th with two walks drawn and an intentional walk to Brett Akins to load the bases with no outs.
 
Two batters later Cerda would end the contest with a fly ball to center to score Spinney on the sacrifice fly and pick up the 6-5 win.