Miles Baseball cleared the hurdle of winning a game against a top ranked team (Delta State ranked No. 6 spot in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Division II Top 25 Poll). Golden Bears pitchers limited Delta State to seven hits while issuing five strikeouts. That was more than good enough against the Statesmen as Miles won in non conference action.
Miles got on the score board first. In the bottom of the second inning, Brandon Conner and Cody Hamilton hit back to back singles. Delta State starting pitcher Seth Hougesen’s wild pitch advanced both runners. Hougesen’s second wild pitch in the inning scored Conner for a 1-0 lead. Ryne Benson’s sacrifice fly scored Hamilton to put the Golden Bears up 2-0. Delta State would get two runs back to tie the game up at two in the top of the third inning, but Benson struck again hitting a tiebreaking sacrifice fly which drove in an insurance run in the fourth inning, leading Miles to a stunning 3-2 win over Delta State.
The story of the game was the pitching performance on the hill from Miles righty Matthew White (1-0), who kept the No. 6 ranked team in the nation off balance. White went 8 1/3 innings and allowed two runs on seven hits and struck out five batters. Offensively, the Statesmen had runners at third twice and failed each time to get them home, and they were just 2 for 5 with runners on base and 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position.
For Miles, Conner was 2 for 4 at the plate and scored one run. Hamiliton was 2 for 2 with one run scored. Both of Benson’s sacrifice fly’s scored runs. Will Cantey who pitched to two batters in the ninth inning, earned the save.