ADA, Okla. – After dropping both ends of the doubleheader yesterday, the East Central University baseball team proved themselves in the final game of the series against Henderson State University with a walk-off single off the bat of Dione Allen to earn the 8-7 win at Ken Turner Field on Sunday morning.
 
"It was a good team win," Head Coach Kevin Paxson said. "I was really happy with the way the boys responded after game two. It all starts on the mound, and Cal Birchfield came out competing like he always does to set the tone. Beau Driggers came in relief and pitched like he is capable of and I had no doubt Dione Allen would come through at the end. Anytime you play team baseball and get a win it is a great day. I am really proud of all of our guys and hopefully, this win can get us rolling."
 
On Saturday, the Reddies took the first two games of the series, edging ECU 8-6 in game one before securing a decisive 11-0 victory in the second.
 
Despite Bryan Terry's commendable performance on the mound, pitching 6.1 innings and striking out 10 batters, he took the loss in game one while Chat Hayes suffered the defeat in game two, pitching 1.2 innings and giving up four earned runs and five total. Clayton Solomon, Justin Chitty, Price Daube, and Jacob Poff handled the final innings of each game.
 
Game three, however, saw ECU get off to a hot start, trailing 2-0 after the first inning but exploding for six runs on six hits in the following inning to establish a firm 6-2 lead.
 
Gage Boatman initiated the Tigers' scoring with an RBI single to center field to plate Chris Griffis before Tanner Collins' hit to right center scored Kale Williams to knot the score 2-2. Tyler Akers' 2 RBI single to right field then drove in Collins and Boatman to take the lead 4-2, and after coming up to the plate for the second time in the inning, Griffis capped off the rally with a 2 RBI single to center field, plating Christian Whitaker and Akers to extend ECU's lead to 6-2.
 
The Reddies gradually began to chip away at the deficit, adding two runs in the fourth inning to narrow the gap to 6-4, but Britton Sperry's RBI up the middle in the fifth pushed the Tigers back out 7-4.
 
Despite maintaining control for the majority of the game, the home-standing Tigers relied on the ninth inning to finish off the Reddies as Henderson managed to sneak in three runs to tie the game 7-7 in the eighth inning.
 
After escaping the top of the ninth thanks to Beau Driggers striking out the final batter with the bases loaded, the Tigers capitalized in the home half, beginning with a lead-off single from Austin Wood to put the winning run on base. Bladen Biner came in to pinch run, and after a sacrifice bunt from Kale Williams advanced him to second base, Dione Allen delivered a two-out RBI single to walk it off for the 8-7 win to close out the series.
 
Cal Birchfield took the no-decision but had a quality start in his seven innings that kept ECU in the game. Beau Driggers executed his job in relief, shutting down Henderson in the final two innings with four strikeouts and just two hits to earn his first win of the season.
 
Christian Whitaker and Chris Griffis led at the plate over the weekend, with Whitaker securing five hits and two RBIs while Griffis collected four hits and an impressive five RBIs.
 
The ECU baseball team will be back at home on Tuesday, March 26 with a single game against Southern Nazarene University at 2 pm.