Baseball's Heroics Down Nova in 13 Innings

DAVIE, Fla.—The Barry baseball team took game one of the three game series against Nova in a 13 inning, 4-3 thriller on Friday. The game tied the second longest in school history.

After two scoreless innings, Barry struck in the top of the third. Drew Dwelly ripped a one-out double to right center then advanced to third on a throwing error by the second baseman. Then Adrian English lined the 2-2 offering up the middle to give the Bucs the first lead of the game at 1-0.

Nova answered back in the bottom of the fifth with Andrew Durden homering to left field then Dusty Maggs lifting a shot over the right field fence. With the back-to-back blasts off the Barry ace, Nova took a 2-1 lead.

In the top of the sixth, Dean Green took the first pitch of the inning over the center field fence for his 11th home run of the season. Then in the very next inning Dwelly launched a solo home run to give Barry a 3-2 advantage.

Barry starting pitcher Manny Rodriguez took the mound for the ninth inning working on a 120 plus pitch count. After walking the first two batters, Rodriguez was pulled and replaced by Jordan Wellander. Wellander hit the first batter he faced to load the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth and a slim one run lead.

Wellander struck out Maggs swinging then forced Anthony Angulo to ground a ball to the short stop. English fielded the slowly-hit ground ball cleanly and tossed over to Matt Petty at second. Petty then turned and threw to first. Both Nova runners were called safe on the play, allowing Nova to tie the game with one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth.

With Nova short stop and number eight hitter, Luis Penate, at the plate, Wellander’s breaking ball bounced in the dirt and caromed away from Buccaneer catcher Chris Leon. Daniel Petitbon broke for home on the play but was thrown out as Leon hustled to the ball and made a beautiful throw to Wellander covering home to preserve the tie. Penate flew out to right field to end the inning and send the game to extras.

The Buccaneers found themselves in just as bad a mess in the bottom of the twelfth. Maggs started off the inning for Nova with a lead-off walk and Alan Avila then pinch ran for Maggs. Michael Hartley successfully advanced Avila to second on a sacrifice bunt and Penate reached first on an intentional walk. With one out, Nova’s number nine hitter, Ray Navarro, stepped up to the plate and tallied a base hit through the left side to load the bases. Asuaje then lifted a fly ball to left field with one out and Avila stood on third poised to tag up and score the winning run for Nova. Lyndon Coleman settled under the ball, made the catch and delivered a perfect throw to hose Avila at the plate and protect the tie for Barry.

In the top of the 13th, Harold Holness stepped up to the plate with a 0-5 night and with one out. After falling behind in the count 1-2, Holness belted a double to deep right center. Dwelly, already gave Barry a lead once in the game with his solo shot in the seventh added more heroics to an epic night of baseball. The senior came through once again and pulled a single through the left side of the infield to score Holness.

Wellander continued to shine in the bottom of the thirteenth after giving up a leadoff double then retired the next three batters to give the Bucs, what felt like, a huge conference win.

Rodriguez started the game for Barry and went eight innings, giving up four hits, three runs and striking out seven. Wellander earned the win on five innings of three-hit baseball while striking out six. Dwelly, English, Green and James Young all posted multi-hit games with Dwelly leading the way with a single, a double and a home run and collecting two runs and two RBIs.

The Barry-Nova series continues tomorrow with first pitch of a double header at 1:00 p.m. Live coverage can be heard on the Buccaneer Broadcasting Network starting at 12:30 p.m.

Barry 4, Nova Southeastern 3
(Apr 08, 2011 at Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)
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Barry............................. 001 001 100 000 1 - 4 12 1 (26-9, 12-1)
Nova Southeastern... 000 020 001 000 0 - 3 7 3 (22-11, 9-4)
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Pitchers: Barry - Manny Rodriguez; Jordan Wellander(9) and Chris Leon. Nova Southeastern -
Isaac Hicks; Torey Ekey(6); Chris Roman(8); Mauricio Rodriguez(9); Sean Albury(9);
Anthony Nalepa(11); Ralph Pena(13) and Anthony Angulo; Michael Hartley.
Win-Jordan Wellander(3-1) Loss-Anthony Nalepa(1-1) T-4:39 A-289
HR BUB - Drew Dwelly; Dean Green.
HR NSB - Andrew Durden; Dusty Maggs.
Weather: Hot, clear skies
Rodriguez faced 2 batters in the 9th.
Rodriguez faced 2 batters in the 9th.
Game: BB0408