Box Score A Ryan Ross sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th inning gave host LaGrange College a 4-3 extra innings baseball victory over No. 18 Maryville College on Saturday afternoon.
The Panthers scored first in the 2nd inning when Jack Layrisson tripled and later scored off an Austin Jones single to center field.
Maryville answered in the third when Evan Ezell was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on a Patrick Messinger sacrifice bunt, and scored on a Johnny Carpenter RBI single through the left side.
The visiting Scots posted a pair of runs in the 4th when Ezell and Messinger each recorded an RBI. Ezell single in Jake Petersen before Messinger sent Mike Homan home with a ground out.
With Maryville leading 3-1, LaGrange cut the lead in the 5th when Jacob Gassert tripled in Jackson Patrick who had earlier been hit by a pitch. After five complete innings, MC led 3-2.
The Panthers pushed the game to extra innings in the 8th when Jones scored James Poropatic on a safety squeeze.
Ross' heroics awaited his plate appearance in the 10th. Rhett Mixon walked and stole second base. After a Layrisson single, Ross' game-winning sacrifice fly pushed the Panthers to (13-11, 3-5 USA South).
Maryville (18-4, 4-4 USA South) only managed six hits during the league challenge. Six different Scots recorded hits with Carpenter, Ezell, and Messinger posting key RBI.
The Scots used seven pitchers to counter LaGrange's 10-hit attack. Samuel Joiner (1-1) suffered the loss with 1.2 innings of one-hit relief.
MC will conclude the series in LaGrange on Sunday with a 2:00 p.m. 1st pitch.
