BLUE MOUNTAIN, Miss. – GAME 2 – The middle game between Blue Mountain Christian and No. 9 William Carey turned out to be a slugfest, with the Toppers coming away with a 12-11 walk-off win in extra innings.
The game was schedule for seven innings, but the extra frames pushed Game 3 to the seven-inning affair of the series.
The Crusaders would start off with three runs in the top of the first, but Blue Mountain would score five in the bottom half behind an RBI double by Ross Polizzi, a two-run double by Tyrese Roberson and an RBI single by Spencer Wilson.
The Toppers continued their offensive assault in the second inning, with Jacob Bryant doubling in a run, chasing WCU starter Preston Ratliff.  Josiah Rivera would drive in two more with a single and by the time the inning was over, BMCU led 9-3.
Carey would answer with six runs in the third to tie it at 9-9 after a three-run homer from Cam Trosclair.
The Toppers retook the lead in the fourth with an RBI double from Spencer Wilson, but Carey tied it again in the top of the fifth with another homer from Trosclair, a solo shot.
In the bottom of the inning, Hayden Redding teed off for a solo homer to left center, his sixth of the season, but Carey would get an RBI single in the top of the seventh to even it at 11-11 and send it to extras.
The Toppers would walk it off in the ninth with a Carson Gault single that seeped through the left side to score Bryant for the victory.
Cameron Gordon (4-5) came on in relief for the win for BMCU, tossing four innings, allowing a run on four hits with seven Ks.
Wilson led with three hits and three RBI, while Rivera, Gault, Roberson, Bryant and Polizzi all had two hits each for the Toppers.
 
GAME 3
Blue Mountain would knock off the nationally ranked Crusaders in the final game of the series, winning 14-6, and marking the second straight season to take the SSAC series from William Carey.
The Crusaders would score three in the third, highlighted by a solo homer from Rigoberto Hernandez.
The Toppers would answer in the bottom half of the third with RBI singles by Hayden Redding and Chris Smith, followed by a bases-loaded walk and groundout score to take a 4-3 lead.
Three more would cross the plate for the Toppers in the fourth on a two wild pitches and a sac-fly by Carson Gault to make it 7-4.
Carey would get two in the top of the fifth to cut it to two, but the Toppers kept applying pressure with more runs in the bottom of the inning on an error and a sac-fly by Ross Polizzi, along with an RBI single from Josiah Rivera making it 10-5.
Polizzi would strike again in the bottom of the sixth, drilling a two-run double to right-center and Will Crawford drove in a run, leading to the victory and series over the Crusaders.
Cole Giordano (2-1) picked up the victory on the bump for BMCU, tossing 4.1 innings, allowing three earned runs on seven hits with two Ks.
Polizzi led with two hits and three RBI, while Rivera chipped in two hits.  Jacob Bryant scored four times, while Hayden Redding and Braxton Miller scored three times each.
BMCU (23-23, 12-15 SSAC) closes out the regular season Thursday and Friday of next week, traveling to UT-Southern for a three-game SSAC series.
 
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