A three-run homer by Brooks Henderson (UMBC) in the fifth inning game Strasburg the lead and the Express held on in the ninth to win the North Division playoffs, 8-7, over Purcellville.
The teams traded runs in the second inning.
Colson Wood’s (North Central Texas College) run-scoring double put the Cannons on the board in the second inning and a single by Jason Micheels (Purdue-Fort Wayne) made it 2-0. Kobe White (LSU-Shreveport) plated a run with a groundout to put the visitors up 3-0.
A two-run homer by Brett Moseley (Mississippi) put the Express on the board in the bottom of the inning and Strasburg tied the score on a groundout by Brady Boles (Panola).
The Cannons regained the lead in the third on a solo homer by Thomas Marsala (Northwestern State) and a run-scoring single by Wood in the fifth gave Purcellville a 5-3 lead.
Jake McCarter’s solo homer in the bottom of the fifth made it a one-run game before Henderson put Strasburg ahead, 7-5, with his three-run shot to the left.
Marsala drove in a run in the sixth with a single, but the Express answered with a run in the eighth on a single by McCarter, making the score 8-6.
With two outs and no one on base in the ninth, Mitsuki Kohno (Johnson U). kept the Cannons alive with a double to left. Trey Freeman (Santa Fe College) followed with a single, scoring Kohno to pull the Cannons to within 8-7. Wood reached on a throwing error, putting runners on the corners, but Express pitcher Davis Budd (Western Carolina) retired Micheels on a fly ball to right to preserve the win for the Express.
Moseley was 3-for-5 with two RBIs and McCarter was 2-for-4 with two RBIs for the Express. Boles added two base hits.
Cannons’ leadoff man Ethan Acevedo (Indian Hills) was 4-for-5 for the Cannons. Marsala, Kohno, Freeman and Wood each had two base hits.