The home slate of the 2023-24 season ended on a positive note Saturday as the Bears overcame a tough 16-14 loss in Game 1 to Coahoma by picking up a 9-2 win over the Tigers in Game 2.
 
After the game, Southwest head coach Jack Edmonson said that it was fitting that some of his sophomores stepped up their play in their final games in Summit, however, there were a couple that he wanted to shine light on.
 
"Sam Crowe, he got some opportunities today, he has been limited, he's been hurt and things like that for most of the year," he said. "He hasn't had a ton of opportunities and man, he had a good day today. And Tate Cuevas came in and closed the game and I am proud of that. I am proud of this sophomore group. They are the first group that we recruited and coached through for two years. I think that they laid a very good foundation for our program. I can't thank them enough and their families."
 
In between Saturday's games, 16 sophomores consisting of 14 players and two managers were recognized during a Sophomore Day ceremony.
 
In Game 1, the Bears (21-33, 9-17 MACCC) and the Tigers were jockeying for position early on trying to be the first to strike. That, unfortunately, was Coahoma who plated four runs in the third inning, putting the Bears in a hole.
 
Southwest inched closer in the bottom half of the inning when Marcus Jackson tripled to right bringing Davis Knight home. But the Tigers responded in the fourth with another run, once again making it a four-run deficit.
 
In the bottom half of the inning, the Bears went on a run. With runners in scoring position, Trace Roy hit a sacrifice fly to left allowing Tyler Otts to score. Later in the inning, Lane Steinwinder and Dawson Richard hit back-to-back RBI singles with the latter's pulling the Bears within one at 5-4.
 
The momentum was short-lived, however as Coahoma pushed away once again, taking advantage of a Bear mistake before getting an RBI single later in the fifth inning increasing the deficit to six at 10-4.
 
A two-run single by Roy in the bottom half of the fifth pushed the Bears closer at 10-6, before Nolan Walther joined the fray in the sixth, hitting into a fielder's choice scoring another run and moving Southwest within three at 10-7.
 
But, once again, the Tigers were there to answer scoring two runs in the seventh making it a 12-7 game.
 
The back-and-forth tussle continued in the seventh as Gavin Bledsoe delivered a two-run single reducing the deficit to three.
 
Down to their last three outs, the Bears rallied in the ninth. Crowe started the run with an RBI single before Jackson followed suit the following at bat. Later in the inning, Otts drew a bases-loaded walk tying the game at 12 and forcing extra innings.
 
Despite the late rally, the momentum unfortunately shifted back over to the visiting side as the Tigers plated four runs in the top of the 10^th. The Bears put up a valiant effort trying to come back by pushing two runs across but they ran out of gas in the end as Coahoma survived.
 
Jackson and Colson Thompson led the Bears with three hits apiece. Bledsoe had two hits, two runs scored and two RBIs while Crowe had two hits, one run scored and one RBI.
 
In Game 2, the Bears once again found themselves down early as the Tigers scored two runs in the top half of the second inning.
 
But the Bears responded immediately, matching their opponents with two runs of their own, the first coming on a Bledsoe bases-loaded walk and the other from Crowe who hit a sacrifice fly to center.
 
Tying the game at 2 breathed new life into Southwest and it showed once again in the third. Roy singled in Thompson before Gage Hinnant showed some heads-up base-running scoring on an error by the Tiger catcher.
 
Another Coahoma mistake resulted in another Southwest run in the fourth as Walther laid down a beautiful bunt and advanced all the way to third following a throwing error. On the same play, Jackson touched home. Later in the inning Thompson delivered an RBI single before Roy brought a run home by hitting into a fielder's choice making it an 8-2 game.
 
Otts capped-off the scoring in the fifth with an RBI double to left, scoring Crowe.
 
Cuevas came on in the seventh and shut the door on the Tigers' comeback effort preserving the win for Southwest. He struck out two in the final inning. Noah Russ got the start and the win going 4.0 innings giving up only five hits, two runs (earned) and three walks while striking out five. Davis Knight was the middle reliever and went 2.0 innings giving up a walk and striking out two.
 
The offense was led by Thompson who went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. Crowe turned in another big performance with two hits, two runs scored and one RBI.

Following Game 2, he talked about arguably his biggest day as a Bear and how certain factors like Sophomore Day played a role in it.
 
"I came in the first game about midway through and an opportunity came and I took advantage of it," Crowe said. "It was Sophomore Day and the freshmen said that this is your last game (at Southwest) and between games, it really hit me."
 
The Bears wrap the season Wednesday on the road against No. 4 East Central at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.