T-Birds Use 7-Run 8th Inning to Mercy Rule Madison, 11-3 (8), Cody Tucker Throws 8 Inning Complete Game
Enid, OK - The Mesa Thunderbirds used a seven run eighth inning to defeat the Madison Wolfpack Wednesday night, 11-3, in eight innings.
All seven runs came with two outs in the inning. With one out and two men on, Greg Student hit into what should have been an inning ending double-play but a wide throw by the Wolfpack second baseman allowed Ben Ferguson to come home and score.
Josh Leslie and Cade Maestas then each walked, loading the bases for Zach Wagner. On four pitches, Wagner took the walk, scoring Student, making it a 6-3 game at that point.
After Madison changed its pitcher, Connor Denning wrapped a single to left field, scoring both Leslie and Maestas. Paul Steffensen then hustled out a high chopper to the first baseman, beating the first baseman to the bag with a head first slide, which allowed Wagner to score. Denning scored on a wild pitch, which also allowed Steffensen to take second.
Taylor Darden then hit a single to center, scoring Steffensen and finalizing Mesa's scoring for the inning.
With that momentum, starting pitcher Cody Tucker took the mound with an eight run lead. In the World Series, a mercy rule is applied if a team is up 10 runs after five innings or eight runs after seven innings.
Tucker finalized the bottom of the eighth inning on three straight pitches, completing the win and forcing another game with Madison on Thursday afternoon. Tucker on the night finished with eight innings pitched, seven hits, three earned runs, six strikeouts while allowing no walks.
The T-Birds and Wolfpack will play for the third time in this series on Thursday afternoon at 3:30 pm CT, 1:30 pm AZ time, but this time the winner will advance to the World Series game and the loser will be eliminated.