BREVARD, N.C. – The Brevard College baseball team (4-1) suffered its first loss of the 2022 season in a wild series-finale against Allegheny College (1-2), 11-9 in extra innings, on Sunday afternoon at Gil Coan Field.
The affair featured 48 total players taking the field, including 26 for the Tornados, and was the first extra-inning contest for Brevard of the season.
Zach Allison and Jason Jucker logged nine of 15 hits for Brevard in what were career-best performances for the duo. Jucker went 5-for-6 at the plate, scoring two runs with three RBI, while racking up a double and a triple. Allison went 4-for-6, scoring a team-high three runs and adding a double. Logan Clark and Peter Fumero also tallied extra-base hits, while Jack Atkinson, Blake Burchett, and Clark all stole bases.
Bryce Bowers got the start on the mound for the Tornados as the opener, logging four innings of work allowing eight hits and three earned runs. Cameron Cook came into the contest and worked two scoreless innings, striking out three batters, while Zane Beaver (0-1), Aiden Petty, Jacob Thompson, and Noah Webb all logged innings of relief in the 10-inning matchup.
The Gators had four hitters with multi-hit performances, led by Brett Heckert's 3-for-4 outing with three runs scored. Bobby Kusinsky (1-0) earned the victory after going five innings allowing just one earned run with five strikeouts, while Joseph Raleigh nailed down the save in the bottom of the tenth.
Brevard struck first early with a three-run bottom of the first. A Jucker RBI single kicked the scoring off before the senior shortstop came in to score on a passed ball, making the score 2-0. Freshman infielder Frankie Vasquez plated Fumero on an RBI single, giving the hosts the early 3-0 advantage.
A sacrifice fly by the Gators in the top of the second made the score 3-1, but BC answered right back with a Burchett sacrifice fly and a Clark RBI double, making it a 5-1 ballgame. The Gators cut the deficit in half, 5-3, in the top of the fourth, but Clark scored on an error in the bottom of the frame to push BC back up by three runs, 6-3.
Allegheny tacked on a run in the top of the fifth before coming alive in the later innings. A bases-clearing three-RBI double put the visitors on top, 7-6, before a walk and a hit-by-pitch gave the Gators a three-run cushion, 9-6.
Brevard did not give in, however, as Jucker delivered a two-RBI double to score Allison and Burchett, making it a one-run affair. Cale Oehler plated the tying run in the bottom of the ninth inning, as a single scored pinch-runner - Joc Pledger - to send the game into extra innings all squared away at 9-9.
Back-to-back leadoff singles for the Gators, compounded with a wild pitch that sent the runners to second and third base, gave Allegheny a scoring opportunity in the top of the 10th. The Gators were able to retake the lead after a sacrifice fly and an RBI single made it an 11-9 contest.
The Tornados got their leadoff guy on base in the bottom of the inning, as Allison hit a leadoff single as Brevard looked to rally. Jucker hit a single to put runners on first and second with one out, and a fielder's choice put runners on the corners with two outs. Raleigh got a critical strikeout to end the threat, as the Gators were able to salvage a win while BC won the series.
The Tornados will return to action with a three-game series at home against Washington and Lee University, beginning on Saturday, February 19 at 1 p.m.
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-BC-