MAGNOLIA, AR. – The Barry University baseball team faced yet another Gulf South Conference opponent in an elimination game Friday in which West Alabama eliminated the Bucs, 14-9, to finish Barry’s season in the South Regional Tournament.
West Alabama (38-15) jumped out to an early 7-1 lead after just two innings behind a big bases-clearing triple by Nick Wheeler in the first inning and a pair of RBI singles in the second helped give the Tigers the seven-run advantage.
After one out in the third, the Bucs (44-11) began to hit the ball around the yard with three straight singles by Mitch Rodriguez, Nick Shaw and Danny Lima to set the table for Yan Gomes.
Gomes came through with a clutch grand slam over the left-centerfield wall to make it 7-5 and give the Bucs’ their 11th team grand slam in the process which set the NCAA Division II record for team grand slams for a team in a season.
Every time Barry got close, West Alabama always had an answer in the following inning.
Sam McCormack smacked a two-run single through the left side of the infield with the bases-loaded plating two more Tigers in the fourth and then an RBI single and a passed ball scored two more runs in the fifth to give the Tigers a 11-6 advantage.
Joel Keefe and Shaw combined to drive in a pair of runs in the sixth to bring the Bucs to within three, but that was as close as Barry would get.
Friday’s game was the last game for seven Barry seniors, Yudelmis Hernandez, Danny Lima, Joel Keefe, Bobby Hernandez, Josh Holmes, Andrew Koubek and Mitch Rodriguez.
Barry set the school record for most wins in a season among other records, while advancing to the postseason for the first time since 1998.
West Alabama 14, Barry 9
(05/15/09 at Magnolia, AR)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
West Alabama........ 430 220 210 - 14 18 0 (38-15)
Barry............... 105 002 100 - 9 13 2 (44-11)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: West Alabama - Matt Hill; Josh Varner(6); Brian Burgess(8). Barry - Charley Short;
Corey Witkowski(2); Scott Sexton(5); Bobby Hernandez(8); Andrew Koubek(9).
Win-Matt Hill(10-3) Loss-Charley Short(11-3) T-3:35 A-312
HR BUB - Yan Gomes (21).
Game: livegame