BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Blue Raider baseball team won its first postseason game in two years on Wednesday with a come-from-behind, opening round victory over Cumberland (Tenn.) in the Mid-South Conference tournament.
Lindsey Wilson trailed 5-3 before pushing across three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and
Glenn Simes fired five complete scoreless frames of relief to solidify the win.
The scoring opened in the bottom leg of the first inning when
Chance Stayton connected on his seventh home run of the season to left field to give the designated home team a 3-0 lead.
Cumberland responded with two runs in the second and third innings to go ahead 4-3, then added a fifth run to extend its advantage to 5-3.
Following an empty trip to the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Blue Raider bats got to work in their end of the fifth, leading off with a single by Matt Schultz then a walk to
Gabe Board. On the subsequent at-bat,
Jonathan Barham stepped up and delivered a two-run RBI-double to left field, plating Schultz and Board to knot the game at 5-5. Moments later,
Koby Wall drove home pinch-runner
Caden Davis to give Lindsey Wilson its lead back.
From there, Simes dialed in and held the Phoenix to just two hits the rest of the way.
All told, Stayton led the Blue Raiders with two hits, and Simes improved to 3-3 on the year to help Lindsey Wilson advance to face No. 3 Cumberlands (Ky.) at 11 a.m. CST on Thursday morning.
If the Blue Raiders defeat the Patriots, they will play again at 2:30 p.m. CST on Friday versus either Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) or Georgetown (Ky.). If Cumberlands wins, Lindsey Wilson faces either Bethel (Tenn.) or Campbellsville (Ky.) at 11 a.m. CST on Friday.
