ADRIAN, Mich. -- The No. 1 seed Adrian College baseball team erased a four-run deficit and walked off the No. 4 seed Albion College, 5-4, in 10 innings on Tuesday afternoon in the opening round of the MIAA Tournament at Nicolay Field.
Trailing 4-0 through six innings, the Bulldogs chipped away before completing the comeback in dramatic fashion in the bottom of the 10th.
With the game tied entering extras, Christian Oliver worked a leadoff walk before Gavino Gomez entered as a pinch runner. Cam Oliver laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the winning run into scoring position, and Casey Finn followed with an infield single. Moments later, Jake Burns delivered the game-winning RBI single through the left side to send Adrian into the next round of the conference tournament. Burns led the Bulldogs offensively, finishing 3-for-5 with three RBI, including the walk-off hit. Rolando Jimenez added a 2-for-4 performance with an RBI and scored once, while Finn recorded a hit, walk, and scored during Adrian's late rally.
Albion grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the first inning before adding three more runs in the fifth to build a 4-0 advantage. The Britons totaled nine hits in the contest and appeared in control through the middle innings.
Adrian finally broke through in the seventh inning. Finn reached on a walk before Burns singled to left, setting the stage for Jimenez, who ripped an RBI single to right field. Later in the inning, Nic Bruder drew a bases-loaded walk to cut the deficit to 4-2.
The Bulldogs continued the comeback in the eighth when Burns delivered another clutch RBI single, scoring Jaxon McGuigan to make it 4-3. Adrian tied the game in the ninth after Jimenez singled and later scored on a Brendan Willadsen RBI fielder's choice.
On the mound, Sean Parker was dominant in relief for Adrian. Entering in the fifth inning, Parker tossed 5.1 shutout innings while allowing just two hits and striking out five to earn the victory. Starter Ambrose Horwath struck out three across 4.2 innings of work.
The Bulldogs improved to 29-10 on the season and advanced further into the MIAA Tournament bracket facing the winner of Alma verses Kalamazoo Thursday at 1:00 PM.
