TYLER, Texas - Bossier Parish eliminated Blinn with an incredible 10-9 come-from-behind walk-off win on Saturday in the nightcap of the Region XIV North Sub-Regional Tournament at Irwin Field at UT Tyler Ballpark.
Trailing 9-8 with runners at first and second and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Cavaliers were down to their last strike. Facing one of the best closers in the region in Blinn's Grant Wood, BPCC leadoff hitter Garrett Felix fouled off numerous pitches to keep the Cavaliers hopes alive. A left-handed hitter, Felix repeatedly went the opposite way in fouling off the hard-throwing Bucs reliever's pitches before turning on a pitch and lacing a sharp single to right field. The line drive scored Chance Lyon, who was pinch running for Elliot Hebert, from second base to tie the game, 9-9.
Collin Young, who went from first to third on Felix's RBI single, would score on the very next pitch as Mason Hammonds delivered a sharp ground ball in the hole on the left side that caromed off the glove of Blinn shortstop Jett Garcia. As Young stepped on home plate with the game-winning run, it set off a tremendous celebration as the entire BPCC team rushed out of the first base dugout in pursuit of Hammonds, who had scampered all the way out to the right-field wall before being mobbed by his teammates.
BPCC's amazing comeback victory came about in an improbable fashion because the Cavaliers trailed the Buccaneers 9-2 into the sixth inning, and were one Blinn run away from being run-ruled.
Blinn scored all nine of its runs in the first four innings. The Buccaneers got two runs in the first, one in the second, three in the third and three in the fourth to take the commanding 9-2 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth, with Blinn leading 9-2 is when the seeds of Cavalier comeback were planted. With two outs and the bases loaded, Felix singled up the middle to score Gavin Baird and Hebert and make it a 9-4 game.
The comeback seeds sprouted and took root in bottom of the eighth when the Cavaliers scored four runs on four hits to make it a one-run game. Once again, it was Felix who delivered a two-RBI single to get the BPCC rally started. After Hammonds walked to load the bases, Andrew Mills singled to center which plated Ron Franklin and Felix to make the score 9-8.
One play that nearly killed the combeback was on Young's single Blinn left fielder Jack Schnell made an incredible throw to catcher Nick Wolff, which cut down Gavin Baird at the plate trying to score. That potential run loomed large for BPCC heading into the bottom of the ninth trailing by a run.
Freshman reliever Landon Foster, a Ruston product, was the third pitcher of the game used by the Cavaliers. Foster came on in relief with two outs in the third and was able to get the Cavaliers out of the inning without giving up any more runs. After a rocky fourth inning in which he should've escaped unscathed, Foster surrendered three unearned runs due to two very costly BPCC errors.
However, Foster remained in the game and kept Blinn off the scoreboard from the fifth through the seventh. He faced the minimum number of batters in those three innings, allowing just one hit to Wolff, who was thrown out trying to steal second.
Jayden Saylor, who came on with two outs and two on in the eighth, retired the four batters he faced to earn the victory.
Felix, a freshman from Lafayette, finished the game 4-for-6 with five RBIs, two runs scored and a stolen base. Three of Felix's four hits and all five of his RBIs came in his final three at-bats in the sixth, eighth and ninth innings.
The walk-off win sends the Cavaliers to the championship round where they'll face the No. 1 seed Navarro Bulldogs at 1 p.m. on Sunday.