TAHLEQUAH –
Brooks Miller slammed a two-RBI single to provide the walk-off boost from his bat in the bottom of the 11th to power Northeastern State in a 10-9 win over Southeastern Oklahoma Tuesday evening at Rousey Field.
"I love those kinds of games," head baseball coach
Sunny Golloway said following the victory, "I'm really happy about our defense and our starting pitching and the way the kids fought offensively."
The RiverHawks (5-4) opened the matchup with a continuation of last week's strong offensive performances with scores in three of the contest's first four frames, including two in the first inning and three in the third. The Savage Storm (6-2) found a brief response in the third with two of their own scoring, but NSU held a 6-2 lead after four.
After that, the SE bullpen found its footing and the NSU offense was shut out for the next four innings. In that span of time, the Savage Storm scored six unanswered, capped by a solo shot from Dylan Herd in the top of the ninth inning. Needing two runs to extend their lives in the game, Northeastern found what they were looking for with both of the needed scores coming from
Isaiah Keller on a two-RBI single into center field. Keller served as the go-ahead run, but was left stranded at third to send the game to extras at 8-8.
After an uneventful and scoreless tenth stanza, Southeastern applied the pressure on NSU with another solo home run to take a 9-8 score into the bottom of the 11th. After loading the bases up,
Brooks Miller made his lone appearance at the plate and sent the game-winning shot into shallow left field, sending home
Matt Kaiser and
C.D. White.
"Even when they hit a home run in extra innings to take the lead, we weren't phased," Golloway remarked, "I really felt we had the meat of the lineup coming back up and we had a good chance to score."
Miller's single was the final hit of 16 from the RiverHawks, while White had four and Keller made a consistent impact with three. Both tied for the team lead by driving in three runs each.
Christian Johnson went five innings in his third start and did not allow an earned run, while striking out seven.
Drake Sisemore had a scoreless inning in relief, while
Jessie Moreno III and
Cole White went the final 2.1 innings and combined to only surrender one run. White received the win for his efforts in the 11th, his first of the season.
Northeastern State begins a three-game end-of-week schedule with Randall on Friday at Rousey Field at 2 p.m.
