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Story courtesy of Delta State Sports Information CLEVELAND, Miss. – It took 10 innings for the No. 8 Delta State University baseball team to put away the 21st-ranked Norse of Northern Kentucky University, 9-8, on Sunday. The Statesmen plated the winning run in the bottom of the 10th on an error by NKU left fielder Brian DeCarlo, who dropped Hunter Jobes’ deep fly to the wall allowing Chris Clark to score. The victory gave the Statesmen (8-2) the series sweep over the Norse (0-3). Northern Kentucky plated three runs in the eighth to take a 5-4 lead, but the Statesmen answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 7-5 advantage. In the ninth, the Norse took advantage of two Statesmen errors to score three runs to take an 8-7 lead. In the bottom of the inning, Delta State tied the game on Patrick Williams’ RBI double to left-center field. Delta State's Cesar Rodriguez struck out the side to send the Statesmen to the plate in the bottom of the inning. In the 10th, Chris Clark doubled to right-center field, and Chris Weast lined a shot off the pitcher for an infield single sending Clark to third. Jobes stepped to the plate and, with a 3-2 count, drove a shot deep to right field. DeCarlo dropped the ball on the warning track, allowing Clark to score the winning run. Rodriguez (1-0) picked the win in relief for the Statesmen. He pitched three innings, allowing three unearned runs with two walks and six strikeouts. Nathan Jones (0-1) was saddled with the loss for the Norse. Jones pitched 1 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on three hits with a walk and three strikeouts. Chris Nann paced the Norse at the plate going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI. Matt Wagers collected three hits for Northern Kentucky, while teammate Kory Lonergan was 2-for-6 with two RBI. |
