THOMASVILLE, Ga.– A ninth inning rally fell short for the Thomas Night Hawks as they lost in the rubber match against UT Southern on Saturday afternoon at Varnedoe Stadium.
The Night Hawks got off to a fast start as in the first inning
Cameron Tyson lead off the game with a double and
Elias Garcia reached on a hit by pitch to put runners on first and second. A sacrifice bunt from
Max Pickert moved the runners into scoring position, then
Brayden Lawhon continued his big week by reaching first on a fielding error from the second baseman which scored both runners to put Thomas up two early.
The Firehawks did answer back with two runs in the top half of the second, but the Night Hawks answered right back as discipline at the plate drew two walks and a hit batter loaded the bases. Then Garcia hit a single right up the middle to score both Mike Sowers and
Gabe Tafelski to take the lead by two once again.
Jon Gavin Steptoe started on the mound for the Night Hawks and pitched the first two innings, allowing only four hits and two earned. in the third,
Sawyer Smith relieved the lefty and kept UT Southern at bay, however in the fourth, defensive miscues and situational hitting helped the Firehawks to take the lead, ending the day for Smith as
Reilly Kuhar was called in to relive him. After giving up a single to load the bases, Kuhar rose to the ocassion and struck out the next two batters to get out of the jam.
The bottom half of the fifth saw the Night Hawks saw Garcia start off by reaching again on a hit by pitch and later on stealing second to get into scoring position.
JT Whatley drew a walk, opening the door for Lawhon to knock one into left to bring around Garcia to tie the game. Next up was Talfelski and similar to his walk off the day prior, he hit over to left to bring home Whatley for the lead and put himself and Lawhon into scoring position, but Sowers struck out looking to end the inning.
The Firehawks quickly went back on the attack as they put two runners on with one out, then a double scored one to tie the game and a sacrifice fly gave them back the lead in the sixth. The Night Hawks managed to get runners on but could not bring them home, while UT Southern scored an extra run in the eighth to make it a two-run game.
Going into the ninth, Thomas felt deja vu as they found themselves once again down to their last three outs and needing a rally to win. Pickert started off the inning with a fly out to center and
Tyler Marczak grounded out to the pitcher leaving the Night Hawks with one more out. Lawhon then came to the plate and launched one just over the left field fence to bring them within one. Next up was the freshman Aiden Reyes, and he got great contact on the ball but it did not have enough push to it and he flew out to center to end the game.
The Night Hawks will look to rebound in their final non-conference series of the season as go to Jacksonville, Florida to take on Trinity Bapitst College in a mid-week doubleheader on Tuesday, April 15th at 3:00PM
