MARSHALL, Texas – Woods Field produced its first exciting game of 2019 as the East Texas Baptist University baseball team earned their fourth win on a balk in the bottom of the ninth inning over Millsaps College, 4-3. After a bunt and a throwing error put two runners on second and third base, Millsaps recorded a balk as Dylan Sumpter came across home plate as the winning run.
 
Sumpter would be the spark plug for the Tigers with three hits and two runs batted in while Brady Faulkner (RBI) added two hits and Seth Mikeska delivered a crucial home run. Starting pitcher Zackery Pierce lasted 2.1 innings allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits with one strikeout. In the end, it was Call Florence who earned his first win of the season with 0.1 IP allowing one hit. For MC, Jimmy Johnstone and Jimmy Fondren (five RBI) each had two hits apiece. Although Langston Haden lasted four batters as the starting pitcher, it was Zach Kodra who took the loss in one inning of work allowing one run on two hits.
 
ETBU struck first in the bottom of the first inning as the first three hitters reached base before Landen Barns drew a bases loaded walk to make it 1-0. A RBI single by Faulkner and a sacrifice fly by Singletary gave the Tigers a 3-0 lead. Pierce would work his way out of bases loaded jam in the top of the second inning and was rewarded in the bottom of the second with an RBI sac fly by Casey Combs to make it 4-0. The Majors would respond in the top of the third with three runs to trail 4-3. But Sumpter would push the lead to 6-3 with a fourth inning two-run single.
 
ETBU did have a chance to extend their lead in the bottom of the fifth when a two-out fly ball with the bases loaded was caught at the wall to end the frame. MC would have the bases loaded in the top of the sixth inning before a double play ended their chances of scoring. Mikeska would pick up his third homer of the season to make it 7-3 in the bottom of the seventh inning.
 
After a scoreless eighth inning, MC would put together a rally that saw them score four runs in the top of the ninth, including a game-tying two-strike, two-out three-run double to knot the game at seven. It was in the bottom of the ninth that the Tigers started their rally with a leadoff bunt single by Sumpter. Combs the put down a sacrifice bunt that turned into a throwing error to first base that allowed him and Sumpter to go to second and third base. Following a walk to Zach Gartner, Barns came up. But a pickoff attempt by the Majors led to a balk called and Sumpter came home with the winning run.
 
ETBU now hits the road this weekend with an American Southwest Conference series against the University of Ozarks. The first game will start on Friday at 2:00 PM.