A doubleheader sweep of rival East Central on Senior Day last Saturday secured the series victory and fourth seed in the Great American Conference postseason tournament that begins this weekend in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
The Savage Storm dropped a 7-6 extrainning heartbreaker in the series opener on Friday but turned the tables on the Tigers with a nailbiting extra-inning 11-9 decision on their side in Saturday’s first contest. Coach Alan Trayler’s club followed up with an 8-1 triumph to close the regular season with a 28-19 overall record.
Luck was not on Southeastern’s side in the initial contest Friday as they watched a 6-1 ninth inning lead slip away when East Central scored five times to force extra innings before winning it in the 10th.
That snapped a string of six unanswered tallies by the Savage Storm after the Tigers had scored the first run of the game. Home runs played a bit part in the flurry as J.J. Bush belted a pair of solo bombs and Austin Parker added a threerun blast.
The late East Central rally wasted a strong start from Southeastern pitching ace Dylan Hill, who scattered five hits and walked one over six innings while allowing just one run.
Bush tallied three of the Savage Storm’s nine hits in the contest.
Game two took a Southeastern comeback however after trailing 8-4 in the seventh stanza.
The Savage Storm scored four times in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game, which eventually went into the 11th inning still knotted. Bush, Ryan Kirk, Parker and Jacob Ambriz each contributed RBI singles in the seventh inning flurry.
East Central surged in front with a run in the top of the 11th before Bush tied it again on a solo home run to right field.
Carter Olson then provided the exclamation point with a two-run walkoff blast over the leftfield wall.
Bush remained red hot with three hits and three batted in while Easton Ford also contributed three hits. Ambriz tallied a pair.
The walkoff made a pitching winner of Carson Abbott, who got the final out of 11th on a strikeout after coming out of the bull pen.
In the finale, Southeastern took control with four runs in the first frame and never looked back to take away all the remaining drama.
That was plenty of support for starting pitcher Jacob Fuller, who fired four and one-third frames while scattering three hits and struck out four.
Olson homered again and drove in three runs with Logan Rose tossing in a two-run bomb. Kirk and Parker provided two hits apiece.
