The Bucks drew first blood, breaking up a scoreless game and producing a run on two hits in the bottom of the third inning. Andre Solomon picked up the first Motlow hit of the afternoon, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single back through the box from Kilgore Gailmard giving Motlow a 1-0 lead.
Cleveland State waited until the top of the fifth before picking up its first hit, but quickly made up for lost time as three straight hits led to three runs putting the Cougars on top. DeAndre Allen squeezed a tripled just inside the first base bag and down the right-field line to get things rolling and scored the first Cougars’ run on a single from Randall Coley to tie the game. Coley scored when Derek Shugart doubled into the left-field corner. Shugart crossed on a sacrifice fly by Chase Edwards to give Cleveland State a 3-1 lead.
The lead was short-lived, however. The Bucks came right back in the bottom of the frame loading the bases with three straight bunts. Brandon Johnston promptly unloaded them with a double in the gap to put his team back on top 4-3.
The Cougars swung back on top in the top of the sixth inning. Once again it was Allen driving in a run with a double. Coley then plated a run with a grounder to shortstop and the Bucks booted a Shugart grounder to second allowing a third run to cross and the Cougars took a 6-4 advantage.
The Bucks got one run back in their half of the sixth on a sacrifice fly, then took the lead once again with a two-out rally in the eighth. Gailmard and Solomon picked up a clutch RBI single each to put Motlow on top for good, 7-6.
The Cougars’ season came to an abrupt end in the ninth when Colby Harmon doubled with two outs to put the potential tying run in scoring position, but an appeal that Harmon missed first base was upheld for the final out.
Ross Spurgeon started on the hill for the Cougars while Jeb Scoggins took the loss. Joey Falletta picked up the win in relief of Josh Mann for Motlow State.
