McCullers, Triglia spur Shorter Baseball's rally past Bryan

By Matt Green

DAYTON, Tenn. – Bobby Triglia went 3-for-5 with six RBI and Blake McCullers drove in the game-winning run with an RBI single in the 10th as Shorter rallied from a five-run deficit to beat Bryan College 9-8 in a non-league baseball matchup on Tuesday evening.

The Hawks, now winners of five straight, improve to 26-10 overall just past the midway point of the season. Shorter completed the season sweep of the Lions (26-11), whom the Hawks topped 3-0 back on Feb. 7.

Shorter needed some late magic to get the job done this time around. McCullers, Shorter's leader in RBI, came through for the Hawks in extras.

Antonio Walcott led off the Shorter 10th with a walk and advanced to third with the help of a wild pitch and a balk by Bryan reliever Kenny Knudsen. McCullers then stepped up with one out and brought Walcott home with a single to first on a 1-1 pitch, giving Shorter its first lead of the game at 9-8. Bud Fuller, who got the win in two innings of relief, retired the Lions 1-2-3 in the bottom of the frame to close out the victory.

The outlook was grim for the Hawks early as Bryan raced out to a big lead. The Lions scored once in the first, two in the second and got a two-run homer from DeWayne Boyd in the third to go up 5-0.

Shorter cut into the lead in the fourth with a two-run double from Triglia and an RBI double from Mike Miranda that brought the Hawks to within 5-3. Triglia closed the gap to 7-6 with a three-run homer in the fifth.

Down 8-6 in the sixth inning, Triglia and the Hawks went to work again. Willie Lewis singled up the middle and Walcott followed with a walk. Both advanced a base to put two runners in scoring position thanks to a wild pitch by Bryan's John Cain. Zach Breazeale came in to pitch for the hosts, but McCullers greeted the new hurler with an RBI single into left to make it 8-7 and Triglia tied the game one batter later with an RBI double down the line in right that scored Walcott and knotted the game at 8.

Shorter outhit Bryan 15-13 and won despite stranding 11 runners. McCullers finished the game 4-for-6 with a pair of RBI and Lewis and Dadynoel Lorenzo added two hits apiece for Shorter. The six RBI were a Shorter-high for Triglia.

Shorter returns to Southern States Athletic Conference play this weekend, Friday and Saturday, March 30 and 31, when it travels to Mount Vernon, Ga., for a three-game set with Brewton-Parker College.