The Bears have entered the home stretch of the regular season, a time when they need to ramp up their play as they continue to push for a playoff spot. And they did just that erasing deficits in both of Thursday's contests at Meridian, picking up an 11-9 win in Game 1 before taking Game 2, 9-3.
"I'm really proud of the team, they fought," Southwest head coach Jack Edmonson said. "We had a bad inning in the first game but we stayed with it and continued to fight. We took what Meridian gave us and we were able to get some big hits in big sports when we needed them all day."
In Game 1, the Bears (22-30, 12-12 MACCC) struck first in the third inning as Jake Meilstrup led off with a walk and scored on the ensuing at bat after three-consecutive stolen bases putting Southwest up 1-0.
The Eagles answered right back in the bottom half of the inning with a solo home run to tie the game at 1.
But the Bears grabbed the lead once again in the ensuing inning with a two-run single from Carter Hathcock scoring Davis Knight and Cody Presley who singled and doubled, respectively.
The back-and-forth battled continued in the fifth as Meridian went on a six-run rally, putting Southwest down 7-3. The deficit unfortunately grew to six at 9-3 in the sixth following a two-run single.
Despite this, the Bears continued to put up a strong fight and chipped away at the lead the following inning as Cam Bolden scored on a passed ball making it a 9-4 game.
Pitcher Garrison Shows, who came on in the sixth, shut down the Eagles in the seventh and eighth innings, retiring six of the seven batters he faced over that span.
The Bears used that as momentum and went on a big run in the ninth. With one out, Knight, Presley and Hathcock all singled, loading the bases. Two batters later Justin Domiano crushed a 1-1 pitch over the left field wall for a grand slam pulling the Bears within one at 9-8. Following walks to Trace Roy and Lane Steinwinder, Bolden was hit by a pitch once again loading the bases.
All three scored over the next three at bats as Tanner Moore, Knight and Presley walked putting the Bears back ahead at 11-9.
Knight came on to pitch in the ninth and shut down the Eagles helping the Bears preserve the win.
Shows got the win going 2.2 innings giving up only one hit and one walk while striking out two.
Knigth got the save on the mound and offensively, he finished with three hits two runs scored and an RBI. Domiano went 2-for-4 with a grand slam, one run scored and four RBIs. Presley also finished with two hits to go along with two runs scored and an RBI.
In Game 2, the Bears found themselves down in the first after the Eagles pushed a run across on a single.
But Southwest answered back in the third after Meilstrup bunted in Presley, tying the game at 1.
The momentum was unfortunately short-lived for the Bears as the Eagles took a 3-1 lead the following inning.
The Bears didn't panic and got their offense in gear in the fourth. With two outs, Presley singled in Steinwinder before Gage Hinnant tripled to center bringing Knight and Presley home. Following a walk to Tanner Moore, Meilstrup singled him in during the ensuing at bat making it a 6-3 game in favor of the visitors.
Afterward, Southwest starter Dawson Richard settled down and retired three of four batters in each of the next two innings before retiring the side in the sixth helping maintain the lead.
Another Southwest rally in the seventh provided insurance as a Knight single was followed by a Meilstrup two-RBI single making it a 9-3 game.
Richard closed the deal in the bottom half of the seventh, preserving the win for Southwest.
Richard went the distance giving up eight hits, three runs (earned) and two walks while striking out eight.
Meilstrup led the way for the offense with three hits, five RBIs and another huge night on the basepaths with his third game with five stolen bases. The school single season stolen bases record holder now sits at 49 with four regular season games to go.
Southwest is back in action Saturday hosting East Mississippi at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
