LEWISTON, Idaho –Missouri Baptist received a clutch hit to tie the game at four in the bottom of the eighth by Mykol Sostarich and the game winning, walk-off single by Ryan Gunhouse, to stay alive and record its second win at the 2013 Avista-NAIA World Series, 5-4.
Missouri Baptist began the Memorial Day game searching for its offense while starter Mike Avila looked inconsistent at times. The big lefty recorded three strikeouts, two wild pitches and a hit batsman in the first two innings.
In the top of the third, Avila threw over to first and seemingly had Rogers State's Eric Baker in the rundown, but home plate umpire Dewayne Finley called the Spartan starter for the balk and put Baker at second with just no outs.
Avila, however, found a way to get out of trouble yet again. The Brooklyn native got three consecutive fly balls to end the inning and the Hillcat threat.
In the top of the fourth, with two on and two out, Ramcy Lora came to the plate and delivered the first runs of the game. The Hillcat designated hitter drove a 2-2 pitch over the wall in straight away center to give RSU a 3-0 lead.
MBU responded in the bottom of the fifth. After a leadoff double by Dan Harper, the Spartan first-baseman came around to score after a Mykol Sostarich ground-out to second and Missouri Baptist had posted its first run in 17 innings.
The Hillcats recorded its fourth run in the top of the sixth, but the Spartans continued to hit the ball in the bottom-half. Ryan Gunhouse reached on an error and Dostaler bunted safely to begin the inning and made it first and second with no outs. A Joe Stropp single up the middle scored both runners in the inning, which cut the deficit to one.
Missouri Baptist brought closer Matt Marsh into the game in the seventh inning, which halted the RSU offense. As Marsh continued to deal, the Spartan offense found life. MBU tied the game on a Mykol Sostarich single through the hole at short and won the game in the bottom of the ninth.
Patrick Johnson led-off in the inning and recorded a base hit and reached second on a throwing error to put the game winning run at second. Ryan Gunhouse came through just moments later with a base hit and scored Johnson to win the game and keep the team alive.
GAME NOTES
Nathan Utt saw his first action of the World Series after relieving Mike Avila in the fifth. It was Utt's first appearance against a team other than Benedictine-Springfield since a start on April 13th against Hannibal-LaGrange. Garrett Vail and Patrick Johnson both entered the game with hit streaks. Vail continued his to nine games while Johnson continued his to eight games with an 1-4 day. Missouri Baptist went 17 consecutive innings without a run in the World Series stemming back to the fifth inning of Friday's game against Sterling. Emmanual De La Cruz's three-hit day was just his third in 80 career games with the Hillcats, second this season. RSU's Mason Marquette tossed his longest outing of the season in Monday's game with two and a third-innings pitched. Dan Harper's double in the fifth inning was the only extra base that Missouri Baptist recorded in the World Series. MBU improved to 2-1 all-time in World Series play while Rogers State dropped to 6-4. Sostarich's RBI was his first since April 13 against Hannibal-LaGrange.
