HOUSTON – Josh Patrick hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift No. 5-ranked Central Missouri Mules baseball to a 5-4 victory over No. 9-ranked Southern New Hampshire in the Houston Winter Invitational Saturday, Feb. 3, inside Minute Maid Park.
The Mules (1-1) are scheduled to wrap up action in Houston with a game against No. 3-ranked Tampa (2-0) Sunday, Feb. 4, at 1:30 p.m.
After the Penmen tied the game, 4-4, with a run in the top of the ninth inning, Patrick stepped to the plate and crushed a 3-1 pitch over 370 feet into the right-centerfield bullpen in the bottom-half of the inning to secure the walk-off win. It was his second homer of the season.
Patrick went 3-for-4 with his walk-off home run and two RBIs while
Carter Young was 3-for-5 with a double, leading Central Missouri at the plate.
Chase Wilcox added a pair of hits, and
Jacob Steele tallied a double.
Reliever
Matthew Gatewood (1-0) earned the victory on the mound for UCM, tossing two thirds scoreless innings with a strikeout and walk.
Kyle Lavigne had two hits and Anderson Moreno and Jorge Burgos both homered, pacing Southern New Hampshire (0-2) offensively.
SNHU reliever Parker Lendrum (0-1) suffered the setback on the rubber after giving up the game-winning run on one hit in the ninth inning.
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