OLATHE, Kan. – William Woods (15-14, 6-6 Heart) finished up their series with MidAmerica Nazarene (12-21, 7-16 Heart), where the Owls would drop both in the walk-off fashion.
Owls would get the scoring going quickly with two runs in the top of the second, responding to the run in the bottom of the first from the Pioneers. MidAmerica would tie the ball game up in the bottom half of the inning.
The Owls' offense would blow the game open with a 4-run top of the third inning thanks to some errors and miscues from the Pioneer defense.
Ryan Retone would single to score both Groseclose and Brickey to keep the rally going.
Gavin Allen would take the bump and cruise two five innings of work, only allowing two runs to cross the plate for the Pioneers. Their bats were silenced until the bottom of the sixth, when the Pioneers' offense would get to the bullpen of the Owls.
A couple of sacrifice plays, and the Pioneers would find themselves down just two heading into the final inning. A one-two-three top of the seventh would give the Pioneers a chance, and they would in the bottom of the seventh as a rally got started quickly.
Two consecutive walks would bring the winning run to the plate, and that batter would send a triple into center and put the Owls in a tough position with less than two outs. A sacrifice fly from the next batter would give the Owls their first heartbreaking loss of the day.
Looking still to win the series with a game four win,
Colby Caton would single to center, scoring Gremillion to give the Owls a quick 1-0 lead. Pioneers would respond immediately in the bottom of the first to tie the game right back up.
A two-run home run from the unlikely
Cam Casso would give the Owls a boost and a 3-1 lead heading to the heart of the game. MidAmerica would respond with two runs in the bottom of the third and another run in the bottom of the fourth would now give the Pioneers a 4-3 lead over the Owls.
Owls would tie it up in the top of the fifth but would immediately lose the lead when the Pioneers would score 3 across the next two innings to put the Owls in a late 7-4 hole.
The Owls would rally in the top of the seventh for four runs, starting with a
Jude Gremillion single and a Pioneer error to bring the Owls within one. Caton would drive a double down the right field line and score the go-ahead run to give the Owls an 8-7 lead and the chance to win the series in the bottom of the seventh.
The Pioneers would have something to say first as they rode their late-game magic from game one, quickly putting up a rally. After some walks and an infield single, the Owls and Pioneers were all knotted at eight runs apiece and the winning run on third.
The Pioneers would steal this win as they would catch the Owls napping, as a steal of home would secure a second walk-off on the day and give the Owls the series split.
The Owls will look to bounce back as they host Baker University at Owl's Field for a Friday/Saturday series with first pitch set for 1:00 p.m.
