No. 24 IU Southeast walks off St. X, outlasts Union (Ky.) at NAIA Opening Round
No. 24 IU Southeast walks off St. X, outlasts Union (Ky.) at NAIA Opening Round
By IU Southeast Sports Information
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – The IU Southeast baseball team kept its season alive with a three-run ninth inning rally to defeat St. Xavier (Ill.) 5-4 and then doubled up Union (Ky.) 10-5 on Tuesday to survive at the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round.
IU Southeast (37-18) trailed 4-1 after the fourth inning vs St. Xavier. The Grenadiers cut the deficit to two runs when Brody Tanksley singled to score Clay Woeste.
The ninth inning rally began when Woeste and Tyler Mills both singled to lead off the inning. Brody Tanksley doubled to tie the game and after John Ullom came in to run for Tanksley, Jordan Branz singled to left to win it for the Grenadiers.
Andrew Yates (5-0) worked one and third innings for his fifth win of the year. Kyle Hawkins allowed one run on five hits in six and two thirds innings of relief as well.
Six Grenadiers had multi-hit games in the win and Tanksley drove in a game-high three runs.
The Grenadiers jumped all over Union College to start the nightcap. Tyler Warmath had a bases-clearing double to make it 3-0 in the second inning.
In the third, Tanksley doubled to score Cody Maloon who had singled. Then Daniel Brescia followed with a RBI double. Jordan Branz hit a two-run home run to right to make it 7-0.
Clay Woeste and Cody Maloon had a RBI double and RBI triple, respectively, to extend the lead to 9-3 and put the game out of reach.
Trevor Reynolds (3-2) worked seven innings to get the win. He allowed five runs on nine hits, struck out four and walked two.
Cody Maloon went 4-for-5 and Tyler Warmath was 3-for-4 with three RBI in the win.
The Grenadiers take on Georgetown College at 11 a.m. on Wednesday with a berth in the championship against host Georgia Gwinnett on the line.