REPLAY: Brother Martin rallies in last at-bat to force deciding game with St. Aug

NEW ORLEANS – With its season on the line, Brother Martin needed a rally.

The Crusaders came through in the clutch to live to play another day.

Second seed Brother Martin scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning and then held off No. 10 St. Augustine 9-7 to tie the best-of-three series at a game apiece before a capacity crowd at Kirsch-Rooney Stadium in a game seen live at CrescentCitySports.com.

Trailing 6-5 and three outs away from a huge upset and seeing its season end, the Crusaders got their winning rally started when St. Augustine starting pitcher Jeffery Duroncelay hit Bryce Gauthier with a pitch. Eli Booth followed with a single and Colin Roussel singled to load the bases with no outs.

Duroncelay then struck out Louisiana Tech commit Sully Stringer but a wild pitch scored Gauthier to tie the game 6-6.

Frank Randol came through with an RBI single, scoring Booth to give the Crusaders a 7-6 lead before Egan Prather drove home Roussel with a sacrifice fly to make it 8-6. Another wild pitch scored Randol to make it 9-6.

The Purple Knights made it interesting in the bottom of the seventh as Brother Martin starter Alan Mason issued his walk of the game to Shannon Martin starting the inning and ending the night for Mason.

Sam Gernhauser relieved Mason and with one out, Tyrin Kirklin singled with Martin advancing to third. Kirklin moved up to second on a wild pitch. Troy Brown drove home Martin with a sacrifice fly to make it 9-7 but Gernhauser struck out Judah Duroncelay to end it and pick up the save.

Brother Martin bounced back from its l8-7 game one loss immediately, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning. Andrew Sieta reached on an error, stole second, advanced to third on a flyout and scored on a single by Booth to make it 1-0. Booth then scored on another error to make it 2-0.

The Crusaders added a run in the top of the second on a single by Randol, a sacrifice bunt, a single by Ryan Darrah and a throwing error scoring Randol to make it 3-0.

Brother Martin increased the lead to 4-0 in the fourth on a walk to Stringer, who stole second, advanced to third and scored on a single by Randol to make it 4-0.

St. Augustine broke through in the bottom of the fourth as Jeffery Duroncelay was hit by a pitch and scored on an RBI double by Martin before Martin scored on the back end of a double steal to make it 4-2 and Bryce Robinson, who singled, scored on a wild pitch and it was 4-3.

The Crusaders got a run back in the top of the fifth on a double by Walker Bazile and another error to make it 5-3.

St. Augustine (14-22) then rallied with three runs in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead 6-5.

Robinson reached on an error and Kirklin singled. Brown ripped an RBI double to make it 5-4. Judah Duroncelay then bunted for a single, scoring Kirklin to tie the game 5-5. Howard Bachus gave St. Aug the lead with a sacrifice fly, scoring Brown.

Randol had three hits, two RBI and two runs scored to pace the Brother Martin offense. The Crusaders stole four bases. Brown had two hits and two RBI for the Purple Knights, who stole five bases but struggled defensively with five errors.

Brother Martin (23-8) forced a third and deciding game Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Mike Miley Stadium.

FINAL
BM 210 1103 — 9 10 2, 8 LOB
SA 000 3031 — 7 8 5, 7 LOB
WP—Alan Mason (6-1)
LP—Jeffery Duroncelay
SV—Sam Gernhauser (2)
Time of Game: 2:19
SB—Andrew Sieta, Walker Bazile, Sully Stringer, Colin Roussel, Jackson Frazier, Bryce Robinson-2, Judah Duroncelay, Ryan Stripli
2B—Walker Bazile, Shannon Martin, Troy Brown