KANSAS CITY, Mo. - After falling in game one at the NCCAA World Series, CIU baseball kept things interesting with a walk-off in the ninth inning to move past the No. 3 seed University of Fort Lauderdale Monday afternoon. With a quick turnaround in the elimination bracket, the Rams took the field just a few hours later to take on the No. 8 seed Trinity Christian College. A huge offensive outing secured a sweep of the day to keep CIU's season alive.
CIU 8 UFTL 7: Both teams went scoreless until the Eagles scratched one in the fourth. They tacked on another in the fifth and sixth to take a 3-0 lead. Emmanuel Maldonado and Tanner Martinez singled in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game. Fort Lauderdale responded with two more of their own to regain the lead, but a single from Scott McDonough gave the Rams a one-run lead heading into the ninth inning (6-5). A double in the top of the frame gave the Eagles the lead once again. Maldonado singled in the ninth to tie the game, and then Graham Peeler singled to score Rafael Gonzales and give the Rams the win.
Box Score Highlights:
What Coach Jonathan Johnson is saying, "I just watched the greatest game in CIU baseball history. Six lead changes in the last 4 innings ended with a two-out walk-off base hit. It doesn't get any better than that if you're looking for great baseball. I can't say enough about the fight and denial to lose this team just showed. We will enjoy this for an hour and start focusing on winning another game tonight."
CIU 11 TCC 0: The Rams took the lead in the fourth inning with a McDonough double to get the scoring going. They added four more in the seventh after two hits and an error, including another two RBI double from McDonough and a sac fly from Shane Hammonds. The bats stayed hot as CIU scored two more in the eighth on a double from David Mora and a sac fly from Gonzales. They secured the shutout victory by tacking on two more in the ninth with RBI from Hammonds and Kameron Dunlap.
Box Score Highlights:
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McDonough led the team with three hits and three RBI.
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Hammonds and Mora notched two a piece.
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Michael Meilinger recorded a career-high six strikeouts, allowing four hits and no runs in 8.0 IP.
What Coach Jonathan Johnson is saying, "Huge outing by Eric Meilinger. We knew our only path to win this tour was for someone in the pen to step up and give our other arms another day's rest. Going 8 scoreless reset our staff and set our staff up for a great chance to win two tomorrow."
Up Next: The Rams advance to take on the No. 2 seed Concordia University Ann Arbor tomorrow, May 21, at 2:30 p.m. CT.
