Late Flurry Dooms Oilers in Back-and-Forth Battle at Rollins
Winter Park, Fla. - The University of Findlay baseball team suffered a tough defeat on Wednesday, Mar. 1 against the Rollins College Tars, losing 12-11 on a walk off in the bottom of the ninth inning. The loss gives Findlay a 4-4 record on the season while Rollins improves to 9-3.
Findlay jumped on the board in the top of the first when the second hitter of the game, freshman Keelan Daniel, launched a ball over the wall in right to give his team a 1-0 lead.
Rollins rallied with three runs in the bottom of the first to take back the advantage.
The Oilers manufactured four runs in the top of the second, taking advantage of three hits, an error, a hit-by-pitch, and a walk.
In the top of the fourth, Findlay added on when senior Andrew Micale singled to left to pick up two RBI and senior Christian Orr singled in senior Cam Farrar to make it 8-3.
A two-run blast by Rollins in the fifth made it 8-5, but another RBI to Micale in the sixth put Findlay's lead back to four.
From that point on, the Tars battled back to tie the game at nine by the end of the seventh.
In the top of the eighth, with one out, Farrar launched an 0-2 pitch high into the air and out of the park, taking back the lead for the Oilers.
Two runs by Rollins gave the home team the 11-10 advantage, but not for long as Kyron Rogers and Tanner Herrera produced in the ninth for Findlay, tying it back up at 11-11 with their backs against the wall.
Rollins wasted no time in the bottom of the ninth as a lead-off walk and wild pitch put a runner in scoring position. With one out, the Tars' second baseman Adams Torres delivered with an RBI walk off hit.
Farrar led the offense, picking up two hits, including a home run, scoring two runs and driving in two runs. Herrera had two hits, both singles, a run and an RBI while Micale had one hit and three RBI.
Keelan Daniel had one hit, but walked twice. He scored three runs and had two RBI.
Logan Bragg got the start on the mound and tossed 5.1 innings, allowing seven runs, six earned, while walking one and striking out two.
Findlay is back in action on Friday, Mar. 3 with a doubleheader against Saginaw Valley State University.