BLUE MOUNTAIN, Miss. – GAME 2 – Blue Mountain Christian Baseball head coach
Taylor Clark earned his 100
thcareer victory here Friday, as the Toppers swept Thomas in the three-game SSAC series.
Clark took the reins of BMCU Baseball in 2022 and has never had a losing season. He also led the Toppers to its first-ever NAIA National Championship appearance in 2024.
Game 1 saw the Toppers take it 7-6, securing the SSAC series for their third of the season.
The game-winner came in the sixth when
Yaidel Perez singled in
Will Crawford.
The second inning saw
Jacob Bryant belt a two-run homer to left center to give the Toppers a 4-1 lead.
With the game 4-3 in the fifth,
Josiah Rivera would double in
Jacob Mobley, but Thomas answered with a solo homer in the sixth.
Thomas would take the lead in the top of the sixth, but a run scored by Herring and the RBI single from Perez in the sixth put a cap on Clark's century victory.
Tyrese Roberson and
Chris Smith both had a pair of hits for Blue Mountain, while Bryant knocked in two.
Michael Lorenz (1-1) picked up the win in relief for BMCU, tossing the final inning.
GAME 3
Blue Mountain would ice Clark's milestone in the final game of the series, winning 10-8 for the sweep to give him win number 101.
The Night Hawks would get four runs across the first and second innings, but Blue Mountain would fire back in the second with an RBI single from
Ross Polizzi.
Thomas plated another in the third, but the Toppers climbed back with three runs in the bottom of the inning, with
Carson Gault knocking in a run,
Josiah Rivera doubling in a run and Ty Roberson hitting a sac-fly.
Thomas would get two more in the fourth, but BMCU's
Chris Smith would answer in the bottom of the fifth with a solo homer to left.
Blue Mountain climbed all the way back in the sixth with an RBI triple by
Hayden Redding and a sac-fly by
Jacob Bryant to tie it at 7-7.
The two teams would score another run with
Jacob Mobley scoring on a wild pitch for Blue Mountain to make it 8-8.
Later in the eighth, Smith would answer the call again, this time with a two-run double down the left field line to give the Toppers the 10-8 lead, along with the series sweep.
Jabari Farr (2-1) would come on for the win in relief of starter
Max Bates. Farr tossed 4.1 innings, gave up no earned runs and allowed only two hits.
Cole Giordano came on for the save in the final inning, allowing no hits.
Smith finished with two hits and three RBI, while Redding had two hits, and two runs scored. Gault had a pair of hits, along with Rivera and
Austin Garrison.
BMCU (16-11, 9-6 SSAC) returns to action Tuesday in non-conference play against Freed-Hardeman in a doubleheader at Blue Mountain with first pitch set for 3 p.m. CT.
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