Bolivar, Mo. – The Bearcats avoided the sweep against MSSU Saturday afternoon, walking it off in the bottom of the 9^th for a final score of 3-2. SBU's record improves to 13-23 (7-17 MIAA) on the year.
 
Dalton Morrow was given the start on the mound for the Bearcats. MSSU also had a dominant pitcher on the mound; he threw a perfect game earlier in the season. in the 2^nd inning, the Lions scored on an infield blooper that took a perfect path between the pitcher and the first baseman, giving MSSU a 1-0 lead early on. Tyler Mathys and Noah Tucker drew back to back walks in the 2^nd but they'd move no further. The next couple of innings were pitching duels, allowing very few baserunners.
 
Sam Avila broke up the no-hitter in the 4^th inning, driving one to right field. During the next at-bat, he stole second and advance to third on the wild throw by the catcher. Jackson Soule then drew a walk. Soule stole second and on the throw down, the ball hit Soule and went into the outfield, allowing Avila to score, evening the game at 1-1. Again, the next few innings were dominated by pitching and defense, keeping the bats quiet on both sides.
 
The Lions struck again in the 7^th, taking a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the 8^th, Hayden Crabtree singled to right field to lead off the inning. Trevor Lofstrom followed with a sacrifice bunt to move Crabtree into scoring position. The next batter was Caleb Sneed, driving the ball through the left side to put runners on first and third. After a second out, Hunter Hisky came up clutch, tying the game with a single through the right side. MSSU had runners on first and second with one out in the 9^th, but Morrow got the next two batters to lineout and fly out to end the half inning.
 
Leading off the bottom of the 9^th was Sam Avila, reaching on a fielding error by the shortstop. He advanced into scoring position after a wild pitch was thrown. Jackson Soule then laid down a sacrifice bunt, but it was so perfect no fielder could get to it in time, resulting in a hit that put Avila on third and Soule on first. The Lions intentionally walked the next batter to make a force out at all bases, but Noah Tucker wouldn't give them that chance. MSSU's outfielders were playing shallow to prevent a sacrifice fly, but Noah Tucker drove a line drive over the head of the right fielder to walk off the game, 3-2 in favor of SBU.
 
Hunter Hisky and Noah Tucker had the two most important hits and RBIs of the game, driving in the tying and game winning runs. Dalton Morrow pitched all 9.0 innings, surrendering 2 runs on just 4 hits.
 
Next on the schedule for the Bearcats is McKendree, hosting the Bearcats for a double header on Tuesday, April 16 at 2 PM and 4 PM. Both of those games will be 7 innings.