Edward Waters had a flair for the dramatic as a pinch hit walkoff RBI sacrifice fly from junior Daiton Pass in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Tigers a 7-6, come-from-behind victory over visiting Florida National in their non-conference, midweek matchup on Wednesday afternoon at Henry L. Aaron Field at James P. Small Memorial Baseball Park.
Edward Waters (10-8, 5-4 SIAC) had their issues early in the contest thanks to early fielding errors and problems on the mound. Florida National (7-7) scored the first two runs of the contest in the top of the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. The Tigers cracked the scoreboard in the bottom half of the third on a Payton Shubert RBI single to bring them within one run. FNU created more distance from the Tigers in the top of the fourth adding two more runs to stretch their lead to three. Shubert cashed in again with an RBI double in the bottom of the fifth and another RBI single in the bottom of the 7th to bring the Tigers within one again. Hugo Schoening was able to square the contest in the seventh on an RBI double to knot the game up at 4-4.
Florida National was able to retake the lead in the top of the ninth, scoring two runs to take a 6-4 advantage to the bottom of the ninth. Edward Waters was able to twice load the bases in the bottom half of the ninth and were able to cash in thanks to two bases loaded walks to tie the contest again at 6-6 with one man out. Head Coach Reginald Johnson, II went to his bench and called out Pass to try and win it for the Tigers in dramatic fashion. Pass was able to lift a ball to right field that brought home pinch runner Ferante Cowart to give the Purple & Orange a much needed one run victory at home.
Despite four critical errors in the contest, Edward Waters was able to total 11 hits in the contest which aided them in their cause. Shubert was the key offensive catalyst for the Tigers in the contest. Batting in the leadoff spot, Shubert went 4-for-5 at the plate with a double, three RBI’s, two runs scored, and a stolen base. Anthony Roman also had a multi-hit game for Edward Waters, finishing 2-for-4. On the mound, relief pitcher Carson Hurst, who came in to the game in the bottom of the ninth inning picked up the victory for Edward Waters.
The Tigers will return the road and to SIAC play for a weekend series at Benedict. The two squads will match up in a doubleheader on Saturday, March 11th starting at 12:00pm, then end the series with a single contest on Sunday, March 12th at 1:00pm.