2 outs. Nobody on. Bottom of the 9th. Down by 9 runs. How IU Southeast pulled off stunner.
Brett Neffendorf was up until 2 a.m. as Monday night rolled into Tuesday morning, returning dozens of unread text messages from earlier in the day.
“Enjoy it while you can,” Neffendorf said. “I’ll give up a little sleep for a day like that.”
The
IU Southeast baseball coach has never experienced anything in his baseball career, coach or player, like he did on Monday. Neither has IU Southeast assistant Glendon Rusch, who pitched 12 seasons in the major leagues.
“I don’t even know how to explain it,” said Neffendorf, in his first season at the New Albany school. “No matter what happens, our guys will always be able to carry it with them as a story of resilience and never giving up.”
The scene on Monday was the Upland bracket of opening round of the NAIA baseball tournament. There are 10 sites around the country on campus sites with the winners advancing to the 10-team Avista NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho, from May 24-31.
In the first game of the tournament on Monday afternoon at Taylor University, fourth-seeded IU Southeast fell behind fifth-seeded Indiana Tech by six runs after four innings, then 9-0 after six frames. Going into the bottom of the ninth, the Grenadiers trailed 11-2.
Colin Long grounded out to third base. Mason White flied out to left field. The team’s top two hitters retired. Two outs. Nobody on. Bottom of the ninth. Down by nine runs.
Neffendorf’s mind wandered.
“I was just really thinking about the fact that we have a tough road ahead of us at that point,” he said. “Being in an elimination bracket is tough. You never want to sit there and say it’s over but I’m thinking, ‘What do we have to do to get where we want to go?’ It’s a tough feeling emotionally.”
What happened next is almost inexplicable. With two outs and nobody on, No. 3 hitter Luke Powell hit a groundball to shortstop. A routine play. “He boots the baseball,” Neffendorf said, “and the inning keeps going.”
And going. And going. And going. How it happened:
>> Cleanup hitter Kody Putnam singled to right center to advance Powell to third.
>> Trevor Goodwin singled to right. Powell scored. 11-3.
>> Max Flock doubled to left center. Putnam and Goodwin scored. 11-5.
>> Logan Murphy walked. Alex Yurt entered as pinch runner.
>> Ethan Burdette hit a groundball to third base. Another error. Flock scored. 11-6.
It was around this point, Neffendorf started to think maybe something was in the air — if IU Southeast could get White, the River States Conference Player of the Year, back up to bat. White, a senior from Evansville Central, is hitting .420 with 16 home runs and 69 RBIs.
>> Slater Schield singled to left field. Yurt scored. 11-7.
>> Kade Robinson, one of Indiana Tech’s top relievers, entered the game.
>> Long, up for the second time in the inning, walked to load the bases.
>> White walked. Burdette scored. 11-8.
>> Powell singled to right. Schield scored. Long scored. 11-10.
>> Putnam doubled down the right-field line. White scored. 11-11.
That brought up Goodwin, who singled for the first RBI of the inning. This time he launched a flyball to center field. Indiana Tech centerfielder Patrick McGinn jumped at the fence and fell to the warning track.
“For about 10 seconds, no one knew if the ball made it over,” Neffendorf said. “Once the umpire made the call, it was something I never experienced in my life.”
Goodwin’s three-run home run ended the game, a 14-11 IU-Southeast win. The Grenadiers scored 12 runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. All 12 unearned. It took seven hits, two errors and three walks. A dramatic home run to top it off.
“Before the regional, we talked about believing,” Neffendorf said. “Believe we are supposed to be here, believe you are capable of winning the tournament no matter what the seeds are.”
IU Southeast did not have long to celebrate. The dramatic win put the Grenadiers in a winners’ bracket game vs. top-seeded Missouri Baptist. Ace Luke Schafer took care of business, blanking Missouri Baptist for eight innings in a 4-0 win.
Momentum? Better believe it.
“After an emotional win like that, absolutely,” Neffendorf said. “We fought back to win and going into that game against the No. 1 seed, we had a lot of momentum, especially with Luke Schafer on the mound.”
IU Southeast is back in action today in a winners’ bracket game against No. 2 seed Taylor. That game has been pushed back to a 6 p.m. start. The winner of that game will be in the driver’s seat by the end of the night with a chance to close out the regional championship Wednesday.
Neffendorf, in his first year at IU Southeast, believes his team is set up well for today with freshman Connor Sims, a Greenfield-Central grad, on the mound and “all of our horses ready in the bullpen.” But belief is not a problem after Monday.
“Playing in the postseason is about having a low heart rate and not making it bigger than it is,” Neffendorf said. “Once we came back and won that game, I think it allowed us relax and believe.”
https://www.indystar.com/story/spor...in-naia-baseball-tournament-2024/73685826007/
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