The Misericordia University baseball team came back and won against King's in thrilling fashion, 9-8 in the 10th,via a walk-off single by Jeremy DeCotiis Wednesday afternoon at Tambur Field.
DeCotiis went 3-6 with three RBI and a run scored. Tyler Holzapfel went 2-4 with a double, a walk and run scored. Brett Davis went 1-3 with a RBI, a walk and run scored. He also pitched 3.0 innings, allowed no runs, three hits and had three strikeouts. Kenny Jarema went 1-4 with a RBI, a walk and a run scored. Conor Smith went 1-5 with a walk and three runs scored while Parker Abate went 1-5 with a RBI and a run scored.
King's leapt out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first to put Misericordia in an early hole. Smith reached on an error, Holzapfel was hit by a pitch and after the next batter was retired, DeCotiis drove Smith home with a single to left. MU trailed 5-1 after the first.
In the bottom of the second MU scored two more runs via a throwing error by the second baseman that allowed Jarema and Davis to cross the plate as MU cut the deficit to two at 5-3.
The offensive fireworks continued in the top of the third as King's pushed two more runs across to make it 7-3. In the bottom half of the inning, DeCotiis led off with a single and Steve Weisensee was hit by a pitch. After the next batter was retired, Abate singled up the middle to score DeCotiis and make it 7-4 at the end of three.
After a leadoff single by the Monarchs, Kyle Melahn induced three ground outs to end the inning. Holzapfel smashed a double down the right field line DeCotiis drove him in to make it 7-5.
The fifth inning was the first inning in which neither team scored.
The top of the sixth saw King's score via a single to left to make it 8-5 Monarchs, but that would be their final run of the game. The bottom half of the inning saw Smith double to center and advance to third on a wild pitch. Sean Lyons mashed a double of his own to center to plate Smith and get MU back within two at 8-6.
Weisensee led off the bottom of the seventh with a walk. Billy Kerwien singled to right and got to second on an error by the right fielder. Abate reached on a fielder's choice and got to second while Weisensee was tagged out at home on a close play at the plate. Davis laid down a perfect squeeze that ended with him on first, Kerwein reaching home safely and Abate at third. Jarema flew out to left which allowed Abate to score and tie the game at 8-8.
In the top of the eighth, King's leadoff hitter smashed a ball into left for a single and tried to stretch it out into a double. DeCotiis was having none of that as he fired the ball in from left field on a line and the runner was tagged out at second. Two batters later the Monarchs reached on a single up the middle, but Davis got the next batter to ground out to third to end the inning.
Holzapfel led off with a single to right, Brian Kay bunted him over to second and a ground out to the short stop by DeCotiis got him to third. But MU couldn't drive Holzapfel home.
Davis made quick work of the Monarchs as he induced the first 1-2-3 inning of the game in the top of the ninth. But King's must have taken notes as they sat down the first three Cougar batters in the bottom half, so the game went into extra innings.
Elliot Forde entered in the top of the 10th. After walking the first batter, he got the next one to foul to third and Smith threw out the runner who tried to steal second. Forde struck out the third batter looking to end the inning.
Jarema led off with a bloop single to center, but was tagged out at second as Smith reached on fielder's choice. Smith got to second on a passed ball and King's walked Holzapfel. The next batter was retired before DeCotiis capped off his strong all-around game by ripping a single into center. Smith came flying around third, slid towards the back half of the plate to avoid the tag and score the winning run.
The win moves Misericordia to 16-6 on the year and 8-1 in the MAC Freedom.
The Cougars will travel to King's for a doubleheader tomorrow, starting at 1:00.
