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Blue Mountain College

Koch vs WCU 23 3
8
Winner Blue Mountain Christ BLUE MOU 26-23
7
William Carey (MS) WILLIAM 40-8
Winner
Blue Mountain Christ BLUE MOU
26-23
8
Final
7
William Carey (MS) WILLIAM
40-8
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E
Blue Mountain Christ BLUE MOU 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 8 7 2
William Carey (MS) WILLIAM 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 7 10 3

W: Smith, Josh (3-2) L: P. Ratliff (4-3)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Toppers upset William Carey in extras to kick off SSAC Championship

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – No. 8 seed Blue Mountain Christian pulled a massive 8-7 upset in 11 innings over No. 1 seed William Carey (40-8) in Game 1 of the 2023 SSAC Championship behind a fierce outing from righty Matthew Koch.
Koch was dominate for the Toppers (26-23), as he would hurl eight innings with 10 Ks on 128 pitches despite getting a no-decision.
It was the second straight postseason the Toppers knocked off a high-seeded SSAC team in the first round of the postseason, this time on the opponent's home field.
A day after being named Second-Team All-Conference, Koch settled in after the second inning to dominate the mighty Carey offense, one of the premiere scoring teams in the nation and ranked No. 12 in the nation.
Down 3-0 headed to the top of the fourth, the Blue Mountain offense got on track by taking advantage of four walks from Carey starter Connor Adams, capping the inning with a two-run single by Gavin Coles and taking a 5-3 lead.
From innings three to six, Koch dealt a plethora of impossible-to-hit pitches halting Carey to no hits in the frames.
Blue Mountain added a run in the eighth on a sac fly to left by Easton Rainer that scored Hayden Arant, and another in the top of ninth on a solo homer to left by Chris Hoing.
Reliever Shaine O'Keefe would come on in the ninth and be responsible for four runs, as the Crusaders battled back to tie it at 7-7.
In the 11th, Blue Mountain got a sac fly to left by Reiley Tate to give his team an 8-7 lead.
Josh Smith would come on for Blue Mountain and pitch 2.1 innings to pick up the victory in relief with 2 Ks, striking out Billy Garrity to end it.
Coles and Zack Koon both had two hits apiece for Blue Mountain in the win.
"I'm super proud of these guys and how they didn't bend tonight," BMCU head coach Taylor Clark said.  "We kept fighting, and the boys came through.  It was an outstanding job by our staff.  We had a game plan, and it worked.  We're not finished, and we have to continue to play strong."
The win pits Blue Mountain against No. 5 seed Loyola Thursday at 7 p.m. in Hattiesburg in the Winner's Bracket and assures a second straight winning season for the Toppers.
For full SSAC Baseball Championship coverage, visit ssacsports.com.
 
 
 
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