It was a back-and-forth game to close out the regular season for the Bob Jones University Bruins baseball team. On Senior day, the Bruins defeated the Mid-Atlantic Christian University Mustangs 11-10 and closed out the year winning five of their last six games to improve to 11-24 on the year. The win over the Mustangs set a program record for regular season wins and will give the team great motivation as they head into the regional tournament in a couple weeks.

"Dugout was hot today! We came off a 10-run rule yesterday, so we were up," said starting pitcher Joshua Legnard. "It was a little closer than we expected, but bats were hot though and we were able to pull through."

Right away the Mustangs put themselves in a great position when their leadoff batter tripled to open the game. They scored first on an RBI single from their third batter, but Joshua Legnard didn't let it affect him as he closed out the inning with a couple of strikeouts. In similar fashion, the Bruins leadoff batter, Riley Ramsey homered to even up the score at 1-1. Conley Burk reached base on a single after Evan Walker grounded out, but he would be left stranded out there.

For senior day, ultility man and catcher Douglas Goldstrom made his first plate appearance of the season and ripped one up the middle to make it to first base safely. Courtesy runner Kyle Prouse took his place and Goldstrom returned to the dugout. Sam Gonzalez singled after Prouse came in, but neither of the two were able to come home after a flyout and a double play.

In the top of the third, leadoff batter Riley Ramsey was up again and he was hot. He hit a double to go two for two on the day so far. Evan Walker singled and that drove Ramsey in for the Bruins to take a 2-1 lead. Next up, Conley Burk hit a massive triple off the wall to score Walker and extend 3-1. Kam Lance grounded out to short stop, but it was enough to get Burk in and extend the lead once again.

The Mustangs responded early in the top of the fourth as they started out the inning with a single followed by a pair of doubles and another single to even up the score 4-4. The Bruins tacked on another run after Sam Gonzalez singled and Chad Bayne singled sending Gonzalez to third. Isaiah Brandt hit a sac fly to leftfield and scored Gonzalez, but the inning ended leaving Bayne stuck on base.

Joshua Legnard continued his day going into the fifth inning, but the Mustangs weren't making the day easy for the senior pitcher. The Mustangs proved they were there to play and took the lead away when they scored three runs to go up 7-5. Not to be outdone, Conley Burk singled to start out the bottom of the fifth. A single from Kam Lance advanced Burk over to third and Pablo Austin scored Burk on a ground out. Cody Kirkpatrick, who replaced Goldstrom at catcher, singled after the ground out from Austin and Kam Lance made his way to third base. In what looked like was going to be a double play, Sam Gonzalez reached first on a fielder's choice and Kam Lance scored easy to tie the game at 7-7.

Heading into the sixth, who else to break the tie but Riley Ramsey as he blasted another ball over the fence for his second home run of the day. As the game progressed into the seventh inning, the Bruins regained a one run advantage.

The Mustangs kept it interesting all day though as they managed two more runs to score in the seventh and they claimed a 9-8 lead before the Bruins had their chance in the bottom of the inning. The Bruins threatened to tie it back up as they got Gonzalez over to third, but they couldn't get the pitch they needed to bring him in.

In the top of the eighth, Mack Ritter came into relieve Joshua Legnard and close out this game even though the Bruins were still down. Three fly outs with a single in between spelled the end of the inning for the Mustangs and the top of the order came out for the Bruins.

Leadoff batter Riley Ramsey did it again, getting on base with a deep ball to triple. Evan Walker scored Ramsey as he doubled and the Bruins tied the game again. Next, Conley Burk was hit by a pitch to get him on base. A single from Kam Lance loaded the bases. With no outs and the bases loaded, all eyes looked to Pablo Austin who quickly fell behind in the count. He worked himself back into the at-bat and found himself a walk which scored Evan Walker and the Bruins now had a 11-9 advantage. The bases remained loaded however, as Kirkpatrick struck out and Gonzalez and Bayne both flied out.

Needing only three more outs, the Bruins could nearly see the finish line. In desperation, the Mustangs managed to get a man on from a walk. He then made his way to second on an error. The runner then stole third and trotted home as the Bruin's catcher accidentally launched the ball over the third baseman's head. Suddenly, it was 11-10, but the Bruins were still leading. With two outs, the Mustangs got another runner on base with a single. Next man up made contact with the ball down the third base line. The whole crowd held their breath as he scooped up the ball and fired it across the diamond for the final out and the Bruins won it 11-10.

"Our guys finally, finally were firing on all cylinders today," began Head Coach Brent Casteel. "J Leg did a great job even though he starts off a little slow in the first inning as he gets everything going. He's able to start reading everything and he comes out hot in that second inning and there on. He did the same tonight doing everything he needed to do."

Coach Casteel continued, "Our bats were very hot as Legnard mentioned. Our defense was able to get the job done even with a few errors here and there. A big major factor that we've been trying to overcome is that when those things happen, we let that take over and just kind of fall apart and we never fell apart! We kept coming back and that's exactly what we need!"

Up next, the Bruins will have a week off to prepare for the regional tournament hosted by Columbia International University. Be sure to check out BJUbruins.com for more.



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