Harrell's Heroics Land Urbana a 7-6 Win
Blue Knights edge Walsh in 10 innings
XENIA , Ohio (April 4, 2008) – It wouldn’t be an Urbana baseball game if it was not a thriller or last late into the night at Athletes in Action Stadium. Friday’s American Mideast Conference clash, pitting the Blue Knights against second-place Walsh (13-9, 7-2 AMC), definitely fit the bill. Urbana senior Randy Harrell had a roller coaster of a game, but ended up helping the Blue Knights (11-10, 4-3 AMC) walk away with a 7-6 win in the bottom of the 10th inning.

The Blue Knights’ “home away from home” at Athletes in Action has been site to several climatic games. They started with a sweep of NCAA D-III Capital, including winning one on a walk-off double. Urbana defeated nationally ranked Concordia, needing nine innings to do so. Next up was the Friday night conference game with the Cavaliers.

First pitch of the game vs. the Cavs was thrown by Urbana junior Jaeson Hudnall at 7:25 p.m. Hudnall and the Blue Knights got out of several jams and held Walsh scoreless for four innings. Meanwhile, the Urbana bats were buzz-sawing the Cavaliers as the Blue Knights built a 6-0 lead heading into the fifth.

As Urbana slowly built its solid lead, it took the Cavaliers just one to decimate it. Walsh willed itself to within 6-5. Harrell had a chance to end the bleeding, but muffed a ground ball and allowed the tying score on an error. It appeared Harrell was going to redeem himself in the bottom of the seventh after drilling a ball to deep left field. It looked as though the ball was going to clear the fence for a walk-off homerun, but Walsh’s left fielder knocked it back into play at the warning track. So, this one was going into extra innings.

Junior Mike Blanton (3-2) pitched a gem for the Blue Knights in relief, striking out five in 5.1 innings on the mound, including when he struck out the side in the ninth. Walsh also threatened in the eighth but Blanton quelled any hopes of the Cavs’ scoring with a brilliant double play, diving for a bunt and throwing out the runner at first. Harrell’s fortunes were beginning to turn as he ended the eighth inning with a diving catch.

In the bottom of the 10th junior Mike Bezak loaded the bases with a one-out infield single, setting up Harrell’s heroics. Harrell built the count to 3-2 and calmly took the next ball for a walk to plate the game-winning run, fellow senior Jeff Hartwig. Harrell finished 2-for-4 with two RBI.

Sophomore Matt Murphy was a solid 3-for-5 for the Blue Knights. When he wasn’t being intentionally walked, laying down sacrifice bunts or being hit by pitches, senior Mike Heck went 2-for-3. John Lindquist was 1-for-3, starting the Blue Knights off in the first inning with a two RBI double.

Urbana will host its first game at Blue Knight Field Saturday, April 5 at 2 p.m. in an AMC doubleheader versus Point Park University.

[Back to Urbana University Baseball]