Matty Maurer Walk-Off Ends 12 Inning Standoff with Bluefield

Kingsport, TN - Early in game one for Reinhardt Baseball in the AAC Tournament seemed as if the Eagles would advance to the second game without any issues, but Bluefield wasn't ready to take the loss.  The Rams fought their way back and took the lead in the seventh inning, which made the Eagles have to come back to tie the game in the eighth inning.  The game moved to free baseball and extended to twelve innings before Matty Maurer decided to end it on a two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the twelfth inning.

Ben Medley got the start for the Eagles and had a decent outing pitching six innings recording 3 strikeouts. He gave up 3 runs in his innings (one in the second and two in the sixth), but he left the game with a 5-3 lead.  He was relieved by Brock Weiss who was able to pitch one inning. Unfortunately, Weiss would have three runs against him in the seventh inning and lose the Eagles' lead. Brett Allen would come in at the top of the eighth and pitch lights out the rest of the way.  Allen's numbers were incredible and shut down the Rams' offense.  He recorded 6 strikeouts in the five innings he pitched, but the highlight stats are the zeros that he left on the board. Bluefield was not able to get a hit or run during Allen's five innings giving the Eagles the opportunity to take game one.

Reinhardt (GA)Pitchers

The one thing you want to avoid in tournament play is dropping into the "loser's bracket" early which makes it exceptionally hard to get to the final game.  You end up having to play so many games to work your way back. The Eagles, who are the #1 seed in the tournament, avoided this by winning 8-6 in the twelve-inning thriller.  Offensively, the Eagles got good production from Jarret Burney and Adrian Vargas in the game. Burney was 3 for 4 with a run scored and Vargas was 3 for 6 with an RBI and one run scored.

Luis Mendoza had 2 RBIs in the game to go along with Maurer's 2 RBIs to lead the Eagles. Mendoza's came early in the game when he hit a double in the third to score Dylan Lewis and Marcerio Allen. Lewis and Allen both got hits prior to scoring a couple of runs for the Eagles in the third and put themselves in a scoring position to get the early lead for the Eagles.

After the lead was lost in the seventh, the Eagles manufactured a run in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game and keep their hopes alive in the game. Tucker Zdunich hit a ground out to second, but it was enough to get Lance Dockery across the plate and tie the game at 6 all.

The game would go into a pitching dual at this point with Brett Allen for the Eagles and Ty Woods for the Rams. Both had good stuff going in the extra innings, but Maurer stepped up and found a pitch to smash over the right-field wall ending the game 8-6 Eagles.  It is a survive and advance situation and the Eagles made the most of their opportunity.

Reinhardt will now play Milligan at 7 pm on Thursday for the third round of the tournament. Milligan beat Bryan College 10-3 earlier in the day on Wednesday. Tennessee Wesleyan and Montreat were the other two winners from Wednesday's matchups.  A win for Reinhardt on Thursday night's game will send them to the semi-finals on Friday.  The finals will be played on Saturday.  All game results and future game scenarios can be found at this link:

https://www.aacsports.com/sports/bsb/2023-24/releases/20240501ymw91i