Evans Homer Lifts SE to Win in Extra Innings

DURANT, Okla. – For the second time in less than a week Hayden Evans played the role of hero, this time crushing a walk-off homer over the right field wall in the bottom of the 10^th inning to lift Southeastern to a 6-5 win over Oklahoma Christian on Tuesday afternoon at Mike Metheny Field.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 22-9 overall on the season heading into a three-game home series versus Oklahoma Baptist April 1-2.
 
SE finished with 11 hits, led by Dylan Herd who picked up two on the day.
 
Nine others picked up one hit each on the day, including Scout Capps who recorded his first hit of the season in his first at bat, while Reid Rice and Evans each homered.
 
Rice and Evans each recorded an RBI on their solo shots, while Cameron French and Herd added an RBI each.
 
Jordan Compton got the start and tossed two innings, allowing three runs on three hits with a pair of strikeouts.
 
Logan Teske followed with an inning of work, allowing a run on a hit with two strikeouts.
 
Dillon Bumgarner followed, scattering three hits and one strikeout across 3.2 innings.
 
Joseph Bishop added 1.1 inning and allowed a run on three hits with two strikeouts.
 
Colton Craddock came on and faced two batters, striking out both, before Hayden Alexander came on and tossed the final 1.1 innings without allowing a run or a hit and striking out four to earn the win.
 
OC jumped ahead early with a three-run effort in the top of the first inning and would stretch the lead to 4-0 with a run in the third.
 
SE would get on the board in the bottom of the sixth as Rice led off the inning by muscling a solo homer over the left field wall into a stiff south wind, closing the gap to 4-1.
 
The Eagles would tack on a run in the top of the eighth, but the Storm would bounce back taking advantage of a walk and an HBP to set up an RBI single by Herd to close the gap to 5-2 in the bottom of the eighth.
 
A batter later Miles would reach on a throwing error, allowing French to score, and after re-loading the bases with an Evans hit by pitch, Morrow would reach on a fielding error by the second baseman which allowed Herd to score and get the score to within a run at 5-4.
 
Craddock would strike out the first two hitters in the top of the ninth and Alexander would fan the final batter to give SE one more chance to tie.
 
They would do just that as Damon Burroughs led off with a single and moved to second on an Angel Ochoa sac bunt.
 
Two batters later French would connect on a two-out, two-strike single to plate Burroughs and knot he game at 5-5.
 
Alexander would pick up where he left off, striking out the first two hitters in the top of the 10^th before hitting a batter and walking one to provide unneeded drama before striking out the final hitter of the inning.
 
Two batter into the bottom of the 10^th, Evans would bring the game to a close with a no-doubter over the right field wall to give Southeastern a 6-5 victory.