Charlottesville’s Hudson Lutterman (Virginia Tech) drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth to defeat the Strasburg Express 8-7 in Game 2 of the VBL Championship Series.
The win tied the series at 1-1. The third and deciding game of the series will be played Wednesday night at Strasburg.
With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Jackson Sirois (Maryland) singled and hustled into second when the ball was misplayed in the outfield. After an intentional walk to Brock Clayton (Florida), Patrick Niehus (Gardner-Webb) reached on an infield single to load the bases. Lutterman’s fly ball to center was deep enough to score Sirois with the winning run.
With the score tied at 2-2, the Express scored three runs in the fifth to lead 5-2.
The Tom Sox tied the score with a run in the sixth and two in the seventh. Clayton singled in the run in the sixth and a single by Perry Hargett (UNC) tied the score in the seventh.
The teams traded runs in the eighth.
With the bases loaded in the eighth, Jake McCarter (High Point) was hit by a pitch, giving the Express a 6-5 lead. Brett Moseley (Ole Miss) drove in a run with an infield hit for a 7-5 lead.
The Tom Sox tied the score in the bottom of the eighth on a two-run double by Evan Taveras (Miami).
The Tom Sox finished with 16 hits, two each by Hargett, Kyle Langley (JMU), Sirois, Clayton, Niehus, Lutterman and Will Jennewein (University of the South. Sirois and Taveras each had two RBIs.
Ian White Jr. (Indiana) pitched the final 1.1 innings to earn the win. He allowed no runs on one hit with two strikeouts and one walk.
Paul Osting (Western Illinois), Landon Beaver (UAB), Moseley and Logan Duff (Randolph-Macon) each had two hits for the Express. Moseley drove in a pair of runs.