ATLANTA—Jonathan Cruz's line drive, would-be base hit to center field with the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the ninth inning would have given Oglethorpe's baseball team a victory in the finale of the three-game Southern Athletic Association series against Berry. Instead, a great defensive play robbed the Stormy Petrels of the run, and Berry followed with a nine-run 10th inning to secure a 12-3 rubber-game win over Oglethorpe Saturday at Hermance Stadium.

The game was one of the closest of the season despite what the final score indicated, as both teams came through with clutch hitting and both teams made several great defensive plays to keep the game close through the first nine innings.

Cruz's would-be walk-off single stung the most, however, as the liner labeled for the game-winning base hit was caught on a diving attempt in center field.

Two innings prior, Cruz was also inches away from delivering the winning hit, as he smacked a high fly ball that was caught on the wall in left field. It came with runners on first and third and two out in a 3-3 game, ending the inning on what nearly went off the wall for a two-run double or over the fence for a three-run homer.

Oglethorpe made plenty of great defensive plays of its own, including a few that helped keep the game knotted at 3-3 across the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth. Cruz was responsible for one such play that cut down a runner trying to score in the eighth. With runners on second and third and one out, Berry's Joey Garcia grounded one to short which Cruz fielded and fired home to erase the runner from third that would have given Berry the lead.

On another occasion earlier in the game, David Raygoza recorded an outfield assist with a cannon from right field that doubled up a runner from third attempting to score on a would-be sacrifice fly.

Carson Weir, who nearly had a similar outfield assist in the first, accounted for two Oglethorpe runs. He hit his second homer of the series, fifth of the season, in the bottom of the first to cut Berry's lead in half. Then, in the fifth, he made it a 3-2 game with a single through the right side, scoring Cooper Wilson.

Cruz accounted for Oglethorpe's other run immediately following Weir's fifth-inning RBI. With runners on first and third, he lifted a fly ball to right field that brought home Sam Mills to tie the game, where it would remain until extra innings.

On the bump, Colby James was once again masterful across four middle innings. Coming in to pitch in relief starting in the fourth, James shut down the Vikings for four innings, keeping them scoreless without a hit from the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh.

James, in fact, entered the game with the bases loaded and no one out in the fourth, before getting the Petrels out of the jam with a ground ball and fly ball, only allowing one inherited run to score, unearned.

James' effort followed a great outing from Grant Guinther who kept the Vikings scoreless across two and one-third innings.

Game Notes

• Weir's team-leading 3-for-4 effort helped him go 8-for-10 with five runs and three RBI's in the series. This was Weir's third three-hit game of the season and raised his season batting average to .325.
• Mills (2-for-4) and Aiden Hosford (2-for-5) both tallied multiple hits.
• Mills extended his streak of reaching base to 15 games.
• Will Marconi was saddled with the loss despite entering in a jam in the eighth and getting the Petrels out of it with the game still tied at three.
• This was Oglethorpe's third rubber game in three SAA series this season, and the Petrels have lost all three.

Up Next

Oglethorpe rematches Covenant at home Tuesday at 6 p.m. The previous meeting between these two teams featured extra innings as well, with Covenant winning 3-2 in the 11th.