SENATOBIA – Gulf Coast rode the strong arm of Josh Lewis into the ninth inning and rallied with four runs over the final two frames to defeat Northwest 9-5 on Thursday in Game 1 of a best-of-3 NJCAA Region 23 playoff series at Jim Miles Field.
Lewis threw an unfathomable 148 pitches to break his previous high of 136 vs Hinds. Kole Kittrell came in with one out in the ninth and stranded the bases loaded to end the game.
Gulf Coast improved to 33-14 overall, while Northwest fell to 30-13. The Rangers will have to beat the Bulldogs twice on Friday to advance to next week's Region 23 Tournament in Eunice, La.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second, using a leadoff double from Logan McGrew to get the big inning started. Colby Cagle's sac fly plated the first run, followed by a wild pitch and Ike Williams single to score two more.
Hayden Leatherwood's two-out, RBI-double to left-center made it 3-1 MGCCC after three.
Northwest rallied to take its first lead in the fourth, 4-3, taking advantage of two Bulldog errors and using four base hits.
Tanner Leggett's squeeze bunt scored
Hunter White after a single and
Grant McMinn would single and come around to score on an error to tie the game at 3-3.
Brant Blaylock's team-leading 59th RBI put the Rangers ahead for the first time.
MGCCC would respond two innings later, using a groundout from McGrew to tie the game and then a two-out RBI-single from Dustin Dille to push ahead 5-4.
Dakota Dailey's fifth home run of the year, a line drive shot to left with two outs in the sixth, knotted the game at 5-5 after six.
Another two-out hit for MGCCC, this time an RBI-single from Cagle in the eighth, put the Bulldogs back in front 6-5.
A leadoff triple from pinch-hitter Castor Lee to start the ninth helped the Bulldogs rally for three big insurance runs to push ahead 9-5. Two wild pitches, a balk and an error for the Rangers helped the Bulldogs' cause.
Northwest got the tying run to the plate in the ninth in McMinn, but a strikeout stranded the bases loaded.
MGCCC out-hit Northwest 12-10, with the bottom of the Bulldog order picking up seven of their hits.
Lewis (9-1) scattered nine hits, five runs (three earned), eight strikeouts and three walks on a career-high 148 pitches to earn the win. Kittrell went 0.2 innings for his third save.
Ian Hawkins (4-2), who relieved
Nathan Harrison after six, was hit with the loss in two innings of work.
