The College of Southern Nevada came from behind in the bottom of the ninth inning Tuesday to beat Crowder College 7-6 in a dramatic, pressure-packed elimination game at the Alpine Bank Junior College World Series at Suplizio Field.
Trailing 6-4 in their last-chance at-bat, the Coyotes from Henderson, Nevada, scored three times — helped by a pair of critical bunts and a prophetic walk.
Tyman Long, who had homered earlier for Southern Nevada, drilled the game-winning single, scoring pinch-runner Kyle Kiernan with the seventh and deciding run, setting off a wild celebration as the Coyotes stormed the field and lived to play another day.
“It’s these guys — they are an inspiration,” Southern Nevada coach Nick Garritano said after the exhausting victory. “They have great resolve, great fight. We lost a toughie yesterday; that was a tough pill to swallow. But … we kept fighting to the very end.”
He credited the batter’s box patience of Brady Ballinger, who drew a walk to open the bottom of the ninth.
“When Brady worked that walk … sometimes walks are the most unappreciated at-bats there. I can’t tell you how big that at-bat was,” Garritano said. “And then Mikey Cruz hit that ball in the gap.”
With Ballinger on first, Cruz’s rocket to deep left-center sent Ballinger safely home to cut the Crowder lead to 6-5.
“I saw a lot of pitches (in the ninth), a lot of good off-speed stuff,” Ballinger said. “He kept putting (the ball) on the corner, and I kept fighting it off.”
Eventually, on a 3-2 count, Ballinger walked.
After he scored on Cruz’s double, Southern Nevada turned to a unique weapon the Coyotes had developed during the regular season.
“That’s a good thing about being in a wood-bat league,” Garritano said. “You have to bunt the baseball a lot. When you can get the ball on the ground, you can force their hand — there’s a lot of pressure on the defense.”
Trailing 6-5 with no one out and pinch-runner Matthew Ramirez at second base, Garritano called for a bunt, executed flawlessly by Ashton Zacher. Ramirez advanced to third.
Then the Coyotes bunted again.
Garrison Geis’ squeeze bunt scored Ramirez to tie the game 6-6.
With Kiernan at second base pinch-running for Zacher, Long stepped into the batter’s box at Suplizio.
Teammate Ballinger, watching from the dugout, was confident.
“I was very confident in Ty. I’ve seen his ability,” Ballinger said. “He’s a great hitter.”
For his part, Long said he tried to stay calm.
“As soon as I got up, my heart was pumping a little bit,” Long said. “G (coach Garritano) did a good job telling me to just relax.”
He did.
“I knew that when he missed with the slider first that he was going to come with the fastball,” Long said. “I just tried to hit the ball hard.”
He did.
Kiernan came diving across home plate to complete the comeback victory as the Coyotes had to overcome an uncharacteristic five errors to defeat Crowder.
“We were very fortunate, fortunate to survive here at JUCO,” Garritano said. “Anything can happen here. I learned that (Monday).”
Garritano referenced a late 8-2 lead that the Coyotes gave up on Memorial Day when Florence-Darlington Tech (South Carolina) rallied to beat Southern Nevada 9-8.
“But today I’m really happy our guys executed the way they did,” the Southern Nevada coach said.
Crowder had led the elimination game 6-2 before the Southern Nevada pitchers shut out the Roughriders over the final four innings.
Hayden Nazarenus and Joey Morton drove in the first two Crowder runs.
The Roughriders scored three times in the fourth when Southern Nevada committed a pair of errors.
Another two-base error in the fifth helped Crowder extend its lead to 6-2.
“We had chances to separate ourselves offensively,” Crowder head coach Travis Lallemand said. “The base-running mistake there in the eighth (when Hayden Nazarenus was forced out for leaving second base early on a fly bal to right) was costly. I guess that last inning, the leadoff walk … hurt. He fought off some pitches. You have to tip your hat.”
Lallemand said that defensively, the Roughriders had practiced against bunt plays coming into Tuesday’s game.
“We were prepared for the small game. But we just didn’t execute (on the bunts),” Lallemand said. “It’s unfortunate that we didn’t make the plays we needed to. It’s very disappointing that we have to go home.”
The Roughriders closed the season 49-15.
“This will be one I’ll talk about for awhile,” Lallemand added.
Morton had a single and a double for Crowder and drove in a run to extend his school record for RBI.
“He’s one of the best left-handed hitters in the country,” his coach said, adding that Morton played the season with a bulky brace on an injured knee.
Reliever Hunter Alberini, the fifth Southern Nevada pitcher, picked up the victory.
Garritano, like his colleague at Crowder, said he’ll remember Tuesday’s game at Suplizio Field for a long time.
“This will be something they (Coyotes) will never forget,” Garritano said. “I know I’ll never forget it.”
The Coyotes, now 2-1 at JUCO, advance to play at 2 p.m. Wednesday in yet another elimination game.
