Trailing by a run in what could have been the final at-bat of its season, defending Class AAAA baseball champion Marist scored on a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning for a tie and came up with a bases-loaded walk in the eighth fora 4-3 win Monday.
The comeback victory forced a deciding third game in this semifinal series with Loganville.
Loganville (29-4) hit five home runs in an 8-2 victory in the first game, and then a two-run shot in the second game off star pitcher Brandon Leibrandt (12-0) for 3-2 lead entering the top of the seventh inning.
Marist (28-4) tied the game on a bunt single by Brett Dolan, a passed ball, a sacrifice bunt by Blake Stevens and a sacrifice fly by Chesney Young. Dolan barely slid in safely at home.
Leibrandt next struck out the Loganville side in the bottom of the seventh. The Florida State signee had 12 strikeouts in the game.
In the top of the eighth, Marist received consecutive hits from Kevin Gale, Andy Perez and Mitchell Anderson off reliever Clint Frazier, and then scored on a walk. Marist sidearm reliever David Bourbonnais pitched the final inning for the save as Marist turned a double play to end the game.
While the second game was dramatic, the opener was a shocker. Marist hadn’t allowed more than a run in any of its past 12 games. Loganville scored eight runs on five home runs -- two apiece from Heath Holder and Frazier.
In the first inning, Loganville No. 2 hitter Cody McCance drove the first of his team’s six homers over the left-field wall against Marist's Stevens (7-2), who had allowed only one home run in 10 previous starts and 52 innings.
With two outs, Frazier hit one over the left-field wall. Holder, who has signed with Georgia, flied out deep to left in what could’ve been a third homer in the inning. He got one of his own in the fifth that followed a two-run shot by Frazier and made it 5-1. Holder’s second, a two-run shot, made it 8-2.
Daniel Spingola was 2-for-3 for Marist with a home run and a double. Anderson also homered for Marist in a game in which all runs were driven in by home runs.
Loganville’s Kenny Anderson was the winning pitcher in the first game. He allowed six hits and struck out five.
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