Walk-off Home Run Downs Baseball in 13 Innings

AIKEN, S.C.—The Barry baseball team dropped an 8-6 heart-breaker on a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 13 to the #30 USC Aiken Pacers on Saturday.

Game two of the three game series against the Pacers started much the same way as game one. Aiken threatened early in the first inning but Barry withheld the surge and only allowed one run after the Pacers tallied runners on second and third with no outs.

In the fifth inning Aiken added two runs on a two run home run by Stephen Bellantoni to put the Bucs in a 3-0 hole.

Barry started to chip away at the lead in the fifth when Dean Green and Matt Petty reached after being hit by the pitcher Jason Cochcroft. Chris Leon earned RBI number two of the series on a single through the left side to score Green and trimming the lead down to two at 3-1.

The Bucs posted a monster seventh inning with four runs. Julio Ramos and Drew Dwelly started off the frame with singles then Green launched his first home run in a Barry uniform over the right field wall and collected RBIs five, six, and seven. After Ryan Garcia reached on a walk, Harold Holness came in to pinch run for Garcia. Holness advanced to third on a single by Lyndon Coleman. Coleman and Holness then executed a perfect double steal from first and third with Holness scoring and giving Barry a solid 5-3 tilt.

USC Aiken answered in the bottom the seventh with three runs to recapture the lead at 6-5. In the top of the eighth, Evan Ashley started things off with a leadoff single followed by a Ramos single. Adrian English then advanced the runners to second and third on a sacrifice bunt. Dwelly earned RBI number seven on the season with a single to third base, scoring Ashley to tie things up at 6-6.

Barry finished regulation tied at 6-6. In the bottom of the thirteenth, Bellantoni hustled out a single to short and put Stephen Carmon at the plate with one out. Carmon turned on an inside pitch and parked a walk-off two-run homer over the right field fence to end the game.

Green led the Bucs offensively going 3-5 with two runs and three RBIs. Dwelly posted a 2-7 game with one run and one RBI and Leon also amassed two hits and one RBI.

Brett Hammaker started on the hill for Barry, going six and one-third innings with nine hits, four earned runs and six strikeouts. In relief, T.J. Mullins added four inning surrendering only two hits and no runs.

The game ranks tied for second in school history for longest game played.

The Bucs conclude the three game series and look to avoid the sweep against USC Aiken Sunday, Feb, 13 with a noon start time. Live coverage will begin at 11:30 a.m. on the Buccaneer Broadcasting Network.

USC Aiken 8, Barry 6
(Feb 12, 2011 at Aiken, SC)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Barry...................... 000 001 410 000 0 - 6 12 3 (3-4)
USC Aiken........... 100 020 300 000 2 - 8 15 4 (4-1)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Barry - Brett Hammaker; Jordan Wellander(7); T.J. Mullins(8); Tyler King(12) and
Chris Leon. USC Aiken - Cochcroft; Stutts(7); Grover(7); Smith(8); Tart(10); H. Taylor(13) and
Rice; Miller.
Win-H. Taylor(1-0) Loss-Tyler King(0-2) T-4:10 A-456
HR BUB - Dean Green (1).
HR USCABASE - Bellantoni (1); Carmon (1).
Wellander faced 1 batter in the 8th.
Game: BB0212