The Temple College baseball team, in need to stockpile wins to keep pace for a Region V Postseason Tournament berth, hosted No. 6 McLennan Community College in a North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference doubleheader tilt at the Danny Scott Sports Complex.
Both games went down to the last inning, as Temple held off a seventh-inning rally in the opener and got a walk-off single from Kash Millar in the second game as the Leopards stunned the Highlanders.
Scores of the twin-bill were 3-2 and 4-3 in ten innings.
In the opener, Temple got two double plays in the first three innings. The Leopards infield was extremely locked, having allowed just one Highlander in scoring position in the first six frames.
The Leopards' patient offense plated runs in the fourth, fifth, and sixth. Chase Fricke's solo shot to right field put TC on the board in the fourth, Wade Stallones singled to right field in the fifth scored Yarel Delgado, and Hunter Baros' single to center scored Cameron Bartz.
Peyton Reynolds was solid on the mound, holding the powerful Highlander offense scoreless and to justfour hits over the first six innings. With one out in the seventh, Sam Jenkins walked and Brady Quinn's two-run homer brought MCC back within a run.
TC head coach Craig McMurtry dipped into the bullpen and brought in Carson Henderson to shut the door on MCC, having struck out the final two batters for the save.
Reynolds pitched 6 1/3 innings for the win, allowed two runs on five hits, struck out four, and walked one.
Peanut Brazzle had two of Temple's six hits.
Temple (30-19 overall, 16-10 NTJCAC) sent Thomas Perez to the mound to start the second game. Perez pitched five innings of no-hit ball to set the tone. He ran into trouble in the second inning, with two walks and a hit batsman to load the bases. He struck out Hayden Crites to escape the jam.
The Leopards hit the scoreboard in the third. With runners at Elias Leon-Padilla at first and Kash Millar at third with one out, Stallones executed a suicide squeeze bunt between the mound and first base to score Millar.
The score held until the top of the sixth inning when Brock Lulewicz singled to left field to score Brennon Seigler to tie the game.
The Highlanders got a leadoff walk by Tyler Ness to start the seventh.
Cooper McEnroe hit a long fly ball to right-centerfield. Kade Davis leapt at the wall, snagged the ball, and fired a throw to Fricke at first to execute the double play. It was the first of three late-inning defensive gems by the Leopards that would make the difference in the game.
Temple took advantage of an MCC defensive miscue in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Sage Sanders singled, was run for by Delgado, Kash Millar singled, and Leon-Padilla singled to load the bases. Stallones hit a grounder to second base Bryce Hampton fielded Stallones' grounder behind the second base bag and flipped the ball to Tyler Ness. Ness stepped on bag and fired a high over Quinn's head at first to scored Delgado and Millar to allow Temple to regain a 3-1 lead.
In the eighth inning, Hampton scored on a wild pitch to pull the Highlanders back to within two runs.
In the ninth inning with two outs and a 2-2 count, to center, Brody Chyr singled and pinch-hitter Nathan Tobin doubled Chyr home. On a full-count offering, Ramon Corona singled to left field and Tobin flew around third base having attempted to score. Brazzle fired a throw to Leon-Padilla up the third-base line and tagged out Tobin to cut down the potential go-ahead run.
The Leopards had the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth. However, a strikeout and groundout induced by MCC pushed the game into an extra inning.
With one out in the tenth, Seigler singles. Lulewicz hit by a pitch, and Quinn singled to load the bases. Ness hit a one-hopper to Fricke, who flipped a throw to Leon-Padilla at the plate to force out Seigler, and McEnroe hit a grounder to Kash Millar at short who flipped to Baros at second to put down the Highlander rally.
With one out in the bottom of the tenth, Sanders walked, stole second base, and was run for by Delgado. On a 1-2 offering, Kash Millar crushed a pitch to right-centerfield to score Delgado, which set off a celebration for Leopards on the field and their fans off the field.
The Leopards collected nine hits, with Fricke, Sanders, Leon-Padilla, and Kash Millar having contributed two hits each.
Bralen Veazey picked up the win in relief, having pitched an inning and allowed two hits.
The Leopards will travel to Waco on Saturday for a doubleheader rematch with MCC at Bosque River Ballpark.