Shore’s sacrifice fly lifts Walters State to wild 16-15 win over Seminole State in JUCO World Series

GRAND JUNCTION, CO – It was a Grand Junction special to open up the JUCO World Series on Saturday morning between fourth-seeded Walters State and seventh-seeded Seminole State College. 

The two teams combined for 31 runs, 33 hits, five home runs and 10 pitchers over nine chaotic innings. In the end, it was the Senators, who scored in every inning, that walked it off with a 16-15 victory. 

"What a ballgame," Walters State coach Dave Shelton said. "Hats off to Seminole. There were chances where we could have blown things open, but they kept fighting back. That felt like a heavyweight boxing match." 

Walters State was three outs away from picking up the win in the top of the ninth, but Seminole State scored four to tie the game at 15. In the bottom of the ninth, Drew Blalock led off with a single, and Brady Dalton entered for him as a pinch runner and moved to second on a botched pickoff attempt. 

Following an out, Miles Shore stepped to the plate and hit a ball deep in the right-center gap. The right fielder made a phenomenal catch, but Dalton tagged up and never stopped running, sliding in safely at home for the win. 

"As soon as it was hit off the bat and was deep, I knew I had to score," Dalton said. 

Shore went a perfect 5-5 at the plate in the game, homering, doubling three times and driving home four runs. Along with Shore, Holden Pantier homered and had three hits, while Blalock also homered and drove in two runs. Blalock's home run was his 31st of the season and tied Tyler Myatt for the program record. Kenny Cox had three hits and two RBIs, as well. 

On the mound, Major Osbolt got the start and threw 4.1 innings. Osbolt allowed eight runs, seven earned, on seven hits. He struck out four. Sam Martell replaced Osbolt in the fifth and picked up an out while allowing a run, and Tim Tyler replaced him and threw the next 3.1 innings. Tyler allowed three runs on four hits and struck out six. After Tyler, Hayden Mills entered and faced two batters before Lane Sharp (4-3) entered. Sharp allowed one run on two hits and pitched the Senators out of a jam. 

Seminole State scored two runs in the top of the first, but Walters State immediately tied it up with two runs in the bottom of the inning. Kole Fenton led off with a double, and Pantier reached on an error to put runners on the corners. Following two outs, Cox stepped up and scored Fenton with an RBI single. Shore then singled to right to score Pantier, and the game was tied. 

In the second, the Senators put two on with two outs for Hayden Blair. Battling, Blair gave Walters State the lead with a single and an error that scored two to make it 4-2. Seminole cut it to 4-3 with a solo home run in the third, but the Senators picked up two more in the bottom of the inning when Luke Graham bunted in Shore and Jaxon Walker singled to drive in Jackson Berry to make it 6-3.

The fourth inning saw the Senators mash two home runs, as Blalock smacked a two-run home run and Shore followed a batter later with a solo shot that made it 9-3. However, Seminole State would not go away and scored six in the fifth to tie the game. The Senators quickly retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth with a Pantier solo home run, and they scored two more in the sixth on a wild pitch and Berry sacrifice fly that scored Shore to make it 12-9.

The Senators ran into trouble in the seventh when Seminole State loaded the bases with no outs. However, Tyler got a strikeout looking, a popout to third and a groundout to second to get out of the jam unscathed. Riding that momentum, Walters State scored two more in the bottom of the seventh to go up 14-9. The Senators put two on with two outs in the inning, and Cox bunted for a hit and scored Pantier. Shore followed with a double, and Blalock scored to increase the lead. 

The Trojans picked up two runs in the top of the eighth to cut the lead to 14-11, but Walters State got some insurance in the bottom of the eighth when Pantier doubled home Fenton with two outs to make it 15-11.

However, Seminole continued to fight and loaded the bases with no outs. The Trojans followed with an RBI single and two-RBI double to cut the lead to one and put runners on second and third, but Sharp picked up a flyout that couldn't score the run. Seminole would tie the game the next batter with a sacrifice fly, but Sharp kept the game tied with a groundout to second to get out of the inning. 

In the bottom of the inning, Blalock led off with the single and Shore scored Dalton from second to win the game. 

Up Next:

Walters State is back in action on Monday evening, taking on top-seeded Johnson County at 6 pm MT at Sam Suplizio Field.