LAKELAND, Fla. – The Delta State University Baseball Team (33-19) scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to walk off the Tigers from the University of West Alabama (32-25) Friday afternoon at Henley Field in Lakeland.
Delta State got clutch hitting from junior catcher
Tyler Janos. The Clinton native went 2-4 with three runs driven in, including the final knockout punch with a two-run single in the bottom of the ninth, winning the game.
On the mound, the Statesmen got a tremendous outing in relief from
Logan Eldridge. The Arlington, Tenn., native struck out four batters in 3.2 innings of relief including a big punch out in the top of the third with the bases loaded.
Down 2-0, Delta State would tie the game up with a two-out rally in the bottom of the sixth with a rbi double from
Dylan Dendy and a rbi single from Janos to tie the game up at 2-2.
In the top of the eighth,
Braiden Jones would enter in relief with runners on first and second with one out. Jones forced back-to-back fly outs to keep the runners from scoring with the Statesmen trailing 5-2.
Down by three runs in the bottom of the ninth, the Statesmen would get the top of the order starting with
Wes Warnock getting hit by a pitch, followed by a
Brendan McCauley single and a
Brett Burrell Walk to load the bases up for
Dylan Coleman. With a full count and the bases loaded, Coleman would rip a two-run single into left field to cut the deficit to 5-4.
Three batters later with two outs,
Tyler Janos would be the hero for Delta State, taking a 1-0 pitch into right center field to score Burrell and Coleman to send the Statesmen to the next day.
Delta State will be back in action tomorrow afternoon as they will wait on the loser of West Florida and Florida Southern. The first pitch of that contest will be at 1:00 (CDT) / 2:00 (EST) at Henley Field.
