Horne's Walkoff Slam Lifts Chargers to Series Win Over Chattanooga State
Trailing 9-3 in the last inning Saturday night against the Chattanooga State Tigers, it looked as if the GHC Baseball team would drop its first series of the season. The Chargers had other plans. Alex Marquand started the inning off with a 6 pitch walk to get things started, and pinch runner Blake Brady advanced to second on a ground out by Malik Spratling. Sophomore Parker Orr moved Brady to third with a single to right center and moved to second on a wild pitch. Keith Lyle then hit a sharp single through the middle to advance Orr and score Brady, when Charger skipper Dash O'Neill sent Travis Sands to the plate as a pinch hitter. Sands wasted no time, beating out a hard ground ball down the line that the Tiger's third baseman was just able to knock down to prevent a run. With the bases now loaded, Austin Foster was hit by a pitch to force in the second run of the inning. With the score now 9-5, freshman Lavoisier Fisher smoked a line drive base hit to right field and Lee Kay drew a 5 pitch walk to plate 2 more runs while keeping the bases loaded for sophomore Bryson Horne. Horne wasted no time, blasting the first pitch he saw deep over the right center field wall to complete the comeback with a final score of 11-9. Levi Ayers picked up his first collegiate win, and GHC Head Coach Dash O'Neill was proud of his team after the game. "I'm just thrilled for these guys, and especially for Bryson [Horne]. They battled their tails off for 3 games this weekend against a really tough Chatt State team. We put ourselves in a hole in every game this weekend, and in every game we fought like crazy to get back into the game and give ourselves a chance to win. This one tonight is probably the most dramatic win in program history."
The victory was the second come from behind win of the day for GHC, who fell behind in game 1 of the double header 4-2 in the 5th inning before erupting for 4 runs to win 6-4. On the season, the Chargers have come from behind in each of their 4 victories. Trace Twardoski got credit for the win in game 1 with Logan Ward collecting his first save. The wins move GHC to 4-1 on the season.
The Chargers return to action Tuesday when they host Cleveland State in a 3PM game at Lakepoint.