If Thursday’s conference opener between the Angelina College Roadrunners and the Navarro Bulldogs is an indicator of how league play will look over the next two months, baseball fans are in for a wild ride.
Navarro edged the Roadrunners 5-4 in 12 innings in a game featuring a home plate collision leading to an ejection, eight Roadrunner pitchers and 12 intense innings for a conference opener.
Bulldog Josh Regan sacrificed pinch runner Derek Mueller home from third in the top of the 12th for the go-ahead run, and reliever Brandon Ivey worked his way out of a jam in the bottom half of the frame to lift Navarro to the win. The Roadrunners threatened in the bottom of the 12th, with Roberto Malinowski drawing a walk and Jacob Finke getting hit with a pitch. But with two runners aboard with no outs, Ivey settled in to retire the next three hitters.
The ‘Runners led 1-0 after two innings following Nathan Miranda’s RBI single, extended the lead to 2-1 in Finke’s solo homer – his seventh of the year – over the scoreboard in left field in the fourth. AC tacked on two more in the fifth, with Tucker Redden scoring on a throwing error and Finke driving in a run with a smashed single of a Bulldog infielder.
Navarro climbed back into the mix with a two-run seventh, then tied the game in the ninth on a wild pitch that caromed away far enough away to allow Noah Menchaca to score from second base.
The three-game series concludes Saturday in Corsicana with a doubleheader scheduled for a noon start.
The e-mail address for AC’s Sports Information Director is gstallard@angelina.edu.
