JONESBORO, AR ? The Arkansas State baseball team saw its late inning rally come up short as the Indians fell to regional rival Mississippi, 10-8 on Tuesday night at Tomlinson Stadium. The Tribe rallied for seven runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and brought the game winning run to the plate in the ninth before dropping the game to the Rebels.
“I was proud of our guys for battling back and giving us a chance for a comeback,” head coach Keith Kessinger said. “We missed some opportunities in the middle of the game that would have helped our cause late.”
The Indians (9-9) started their improbable comeback after one out in the bottom of the eighth inning trailing, 10-1. Josh Yates and Guy Brown started things off by drawing back-to-back walks and Elliot Jacobs loaded the bases by reaching on a fielder's choice.
After a wild pitch plated one run, Brandon Bennett came through with a pinch hit single to left field to score the second run of the inning. Jeremy Lyons followed with a pinch hit single up the middle to score Jacobs and pull the Tribe within six.
Josh Allison drew a walk to load the bases for the second time in the inning to set the table for Michael Williams Jr. Williams crushed a 2-2 pitch from reliever Bradley Lum over the left field wall for a grand slam that narrowed the Tribe deficit to 10-8. His grand slam marked the first grand slam of the season for ASU and the first since last May when Brad Burkhead accomplished the feat at Western Kentucky.
The Tribe quickly got three outs in the top of the ninth inning from reliever T.J. Brewer to set the stage for the bottom half of the inning. Jacobs led off with a strikeout but reached base as the wild pitch from Garrett White made its way to the backstop. Lyons again was clutch as he laced a single through the right side for his second hit in as many innings to put the tying run on base. The Indians rally fell just short as the Tribe attempted a double steal that would have put runners into scoring position but Ole Miss was able to throw out Jacobs for the final out of the game to seal the Rebel victory.
The Indians fell behind early as converted closer Tim Egart (2-1) got roughed up in his first start at ASU. He allowed six runs in the first inning plus that he worked as he was tagged for seven hits. The Rebels had four of their first five batters of the game notch a hit to jump out to the six run lead.
Reliever Brian Schuck came on and settled the Tribe down as he worked four solid innings. He allowed three runs on four hits while striking out four batters. Brewer was stellar in his four innings of relief as he only allowed one run on two hits and only walked two batters.
The Indians were finally able to break through on offense against Rebel starter Brett Bukvich in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Indians had an opportunity for a big inning but were only able to come away with one run. The Tribe quickly got things going as Yates reached on a walk while Brown and Jacobs followed with back-to-back singles to load the bases with nobody out. Sophomore catcher Drew Rogers lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to plate the run but the Rebels got out of the inning courtesy of a double play to limit the ASU inning.
Bukvich (2-2) worked six innings to pick up the victory as he only allowed that one run on six hits. The Ole Miss bullpen got one solid inning of relief from Jesse Simpson before seeing two relievers give up seven runs in the eighth inning before White closed the door for his third save of the year.
The Indians pounded out 11 hits in the loss including a third straight multiple hit game for junior Tyler Doke. Williams finished with two hits including a big grand slam while Brown added his second multiple hit game against Ole Miss this season with a pair of singles.
The Indians will continue their eight-game home stand this weekend as they play host to Samford for a three-game series. The series will start on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. at Tomlinson Stadium, followed by Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.
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