Nathan Wood and the South Alabama bullpen made an exceptionally long Senior Day memorable on Sunday at Stanky Field.
Jaguar relievers shut out visiting Louisiana-Monroe in the final nine innings of an extra-inning marathon, paving the way for Wood’s walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the 13th. South Alabama (39-22 overall, 13-14 Sun Belt Conference) won two of three in the series and remained in contention for a postseason berth.
South Alabama is tied with two other teams for seventh place in the Sun Belt standings coming into the last week of the regular season, with the top ten advancing to the conference tournament. The Jaguars finish with three games against first-place Louisiana, beginning Thursday.
“This is huge for us,” Wood added. “It provides us good momentum for the following week. This is the most crucial week of the year. We seem to say it every week, but the most crucial week of the year is next week. Winning a series is never simple. So getting it down is great.”
The Warhawks (21-30, 8-9) were a tough out all weekend, and it appeared for much of Sunday that they may depart Mobile with a series win. The Jaguars were held scoreless through the first five innings, with Lucas Ismaili’s single shot making it 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth.
South Alabama scored in the seventh when Brennan Holt was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and Will Turner’s RBI single knotted the game in the ninth. The Jaguars, however, left the bases loaded in both innings, forcing the game into extra innings.
South Alabama starter Carson Swilling did not make it out of the second inning due to a decrease in velocity from the previous week, but his bullpen stepped up significantly. Gant Starling, the Jaguars’ regular closer, gave up two runs in 3 1/3 innings, but Logan Wash, Grant Wood (no relation to Nathan), and Zach Willingham threw just zeros in the remaining eight.
Willingham was particularly nasty, striking out six with one walk and allowing only one hit over three innings. The junior left-hander retired the Warhawks in order in the 13th, including two strikeouts.
“Their weekend splits were noticeably worse against left-handed pitching,” South Alabama coach Mark Calvi explained. “So we kept an extra lefty in the pen this weekend. I simply stuck with the hot hand, and Willingham was the guy out there. He was simply amazing. “The entire bullpen was here today.”
Zach Shaw, the last of six ULM pitchers, was almost as dominant as Willingham. The right-hander held the Jaguars scoreless in the 10th, 11th, and 12th innings, then walked Tyler Borges to begin the bottom of the 13th.
Rett Johnson bunted Borges to second, bringing up Nathan Wood. The junior-college transfer, who entered the game in the eighth after starting catcher Duncan Mathews was pinch-hit in the seventh, scored the game and series-winning run on Shaw’s 2-0 fastball up the middle.
“That was awesome, man,” Wood replied. “That was a long day, and I didn’t even get started. He threw a fastball over the middle, and I simply hammered it up the middle. He struck me out on three pitches the first time, so I saw everything he had to offer. I knew he couldn’t defeat me again.
“I just put the ball in play, which is what the situation calls for.”
Sunday’s game, like the entire series, featured a number of weird and unusual plays. South Alabama’s Hunter Donaldson attempted a squeeze bunt in the bottom of the ninth to give the Jaguars the win, but ULM reliever Carson Orton retrieved the ball bare-handed and threw home for the force out.
But the highlight came in the top of the inning, when ULM’s Matt Abshire earned a lead-off walk. Jake Haggard then attempted to bunt him over, but it popped up.
Rather than catching the ball in the air for an easy out, Borges allowed it to bounce and threw to first to force Haggard. The Jaguars then got Abshire in a rundown but dropped the ball while attempting a tag.
Abshire thought he was out, but he overran second base. Micah Morgan, South Alabama’s first baseman, rushed over and picked up the loose ball, tagging Abshire for the second out.
“Borges did that on his own,” Calvi remarked. “… He did the proper thing by throwing it to first base, resulting in a tag play. We got into a rundown. Haggard popped it up and stopped at 15 feet, but Borges reacted quickly. Fortunately, Micah didn’t crash too hard (from first base), and he made it back to the bag; otherwise, his fate would have been different.
“But that was simply smart baseball. Borges is a savvy guy who will make an excellent coach one day.”
The first pitch at Southeastern Louisiana is scheduled for Tuesday at 6 p.m.
