Watson’s 10th inning HR lifts ISU past Evansville

If you’re honest about Indiana State’s series opener against Evansville on Friday at Bob Warn Field? There were plenty of plays in the game that could have lost the game for the Sycamores.

Glove work atypically lacked sharpness. Friday starting pitcher Matt Jachec was rusty after a two-week rest. The top of the Sycamores’ order was inconsistent.

However, there was an equal amount of winning plays to cancel out the potential losing ones. And Keegan Watson saved the best of those plays for last.

Watson sent the second pitch he saw from Evansville reliever Nate Hardman over the left field fence in the 10th inning for a dramatic game-winning home run. It was the fourth and final time ISU overcame an Evansville lead or tie in the game as the Sycamores earned the 7-6 win.

Watson got a hold of a slider from Hardman and watched it clear the trees in left field en route to Woodlawn Cemetery. It was his first career walk-off home run at any level.

“It’s the first one I’ve hit in my life. Emotions are running high. I knew [Hardman] was a big slider guy, so I had it in the back of my mind he would throw off-speed. That pitch? I picked it up early. It was inner-half low and I sorted it out. Emotion-wise? Pure adrenaline,” Watson said.

That Watson hit the second pitch he saw was appropriate. On a whopping 24 occasions in the contest, ISU hit Evansville starter Shane Gray’s first or second pitch for the outcome of the at-bat. The approach was aggressive and it worked as ISU had 13 hits against Gray.

“We knew he’d throw a lot over the plate. We didn’t think he’d spot up on much. We wanted to be aggressive early in counts and swing on it,” said ISU left fielder Aaron Beck, who was 3-for-4.

ISU also got help from the bottom part of the order. From Beck’s fifth spot in the order on down, ISU was a combined 10 of 20 at the plate. Watson, Beck and Seth Gergely all had three-hit games.

“We talk a lot about having a lineup, one to nine, that stresses an opponent. We haven’t always been like that this year, but with Aaron Beck coming on and Keegan coming on, those guys in the middle transition our order. They can do little things to take pressure off our back side [of the order],” ISU coach Mitch Hannahs said.

There were also hero plays to keep ISU in the game … and a bit of good fortune too. A perfect bunt single by Gergely in the 6th, a two-out home run by Randall Diaz in the seventh after Evansville had scored three in the top half of the frame. There was a perfect Grant Magill throw to second in the eighth to catch Evan Berkey stealing when Evansville threatened to break the game open.

There was also a replay reversal in the 10th when first baseman Diego Gines was deemed to have succesfully swipe-tagged Evansville’s Brendan Hord after an errant throw by ISU shortstop Jordan Schaffer. The reversal took a run off the board for the Purple Aces, who had a runner at third.

But no play prior to Watson’s game-winner was bigger than right fielder Sean Ross’s run-saving throw in the eighth inning.

After a pair of two-out walks, Ty Rumsey hit a sharp single right to Ross. Evansville sent Ty Roberts from second, but Ross’s throw was a laser shot to catcher Magill at home plate and Roberts was out, dead to rights.

For a time, it appeared the teams were trying to set a record for game time. The first three innings took under a half-hour to play with a 1-1 deadlock after it was rapidly said and done.

ISU took a 3-1 lead in the fourth via a RBI double by Gergely and a run-scoring single by Magill, but the Aces (19-17, 4-3) tied it the top of the fifth.

ISU once again took a 4-3 lead in the sixth via Gergely’s perfect bunt down the first base line, but the Sycamores gave the lead up when Tanner Craig hammered a Jachec offering to left for a two-out, three-run home run to put the Aces up 6-4.

ISU (21-9, 6-1) had the two-out response. Diaz hit a monster shot to left. Beck followed with a single and Watson doubled down the right field line to tie the game.

ISU extricated itself out of trouble in the eighth and the 10th to set up Watson’s hero blast to win it.

“Our pitchers battled their butts off. There were a lot of important things that happened. A few rough patches, but we overcame that,” Watson said.

ISU cooled off Evansville, which had won four in a row entering the contest. The same teams play at 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.

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