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IN BRIEF: The rain had gone away but it was another day that felt like winter time in DuBois, Pennsylvania. The Builders won a thrilling contest over the Wright State Lake Campus Lakers. It took a walk off in the bottom of the 8th for the Builders to stay in the winners bracket at the Small College World Series.
The Lakers jumped out to an early 1 to 0 lead but the Builders would quickly respond in the bottom half of the 1st. Brent Byrum reached on an error by the Wright State third basemen and Maxwell Burcham came around to score and tie things up at 1 to 1. With runners on 2nd and 3rd, Thomas Packert launched one off of the upper deck in left field for a three run homerun and a 4 to 1 lead after the first.
Luke Schanback took the mound for the Builders in this contest and settled down to finish with a solid 4.2 innings pitched. Schanback threw three scoreless innings after the early run before giving up 2 in the 4th. Schanback struck out 5 in his 4.2 innings of work and turned in another quality start. Things would get interesting in the 6th when Wright State tied the game at 4 to 4. Thomas Packert took over on the mound and shut down the Lakers offense to keep the game tied.
It took extra innings to decide this game and in the bottom of the 8th the Builders looked to walk things off. Cody Hendrickson led off the inning with a double to left center, Jake Day entered as a courtesy runner. Brent Byrum worked a walk to give the Builders runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out. Thomas Packert came to the plate and hit a line drive to the right center gap that scored Jake Day and gave the Builders the 5 to 4 victory. Thomas Packert picked up the win on the mound and drove in the game winning run.
BEHIND THE BOX SCORE:
- Cody Hendrickson was 2 for 4 with a double
- Luke Schanback struck out 5 through 4.2 innings
- Thomas Packert was 2 for 3 with 4 RBIs and a 3 run HR
UP NEXT: With the win the Builders remain in the Winners Bracket of the USCAA Small College World Series. The Builders will play tomorrow at 3:00 and face the winner of tonight's game between Penn State DuBois and Bryant and Stratton (Albany).