EUNICE, La. - The ICC baseball team won its first game of the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament 4-3 over No. 14 Meridian in dramatic fashion Wednesday.
Russell Bunch (Saltillo) lifted a deep fly ball to right field to score Kyle Weaver (Courtland) to give the Indians (33-15) a one-run lead in the top of the ninth.
Weaver entered to run for Drew Thomas (Nesbit) after he was hit by a pitch. He advanced to third on a pair of passed balls; setting the table for Bunch's late-game heroics.
Kyle Crigger (Corinth) replaced Houston Harding (Walls) on the hill in the bottom half of the inning. The Corinth native got back-to-back strikeouts to pick up his fifth save of the season to put the Indians in the winner's bracket of the tournament.
Harding (9-3) gave up three runs on five hits in eight innings of work with the heat index surpassing the century mark.
The Indians fell behind early in the contest as Meridian's first two batters drew walks and later scored on back-to-back ground outs to second.
A two run single by LaBryant Siddell (Belden) in the third tied the contest at 2-2 and Bunch gave the tribe a one run lead, 3-2, with a RBI single in the fourth. Meridian answered in the bottom of the frame on their first hit of the contest.
The Indians will face the winner between No. 1 LSU-Eunice (50-5) at 6:00 Thursday night. The game will be available on LetsGoICCTV.com/RED.
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