Matt Marquis (University of Maryland/Silver-Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts) raced home on a wild pitch to cap a wild finish at Estadio Municipal Jesus Maria Freire in Cidra, Puerto Rico, giving the traveling Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League All-Stars a 3-2 win over the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) on Wednesday night.
Cory Jensen (Florida Southern University/Baltimore Redbirds), who had two of the Ripken League’s four hits, led off the bottom of the eighth with a triple and scored on a Frank Florio (University of Tulane/Baltimore Redbirds) ground-out to give the Ripken Leaguers a 1-0 lead.
UPR scored twice in the top of the ninth to take the lead, but the Ripken League responded quickly. Nick Vickerson (Mississippi State University/Bethesda Big Train) walked and stole second, then scored the game-tying run on a Marquis double. Stuart MacInnes (University of Texas-Pan American/Rockville Express) then bunted Marquis over to third before the Maryland outfielder scored the game-winner.
Cody Allen (St. Petersburg (FL) Community College/Bethesda Big Train) started and struck out ten batters in four innings, allowing just one hit. Max Knowles (North Carolina Wesleyan College/Alexandria Aces) followed with four innings of one-hit ball himself. Knowles struck out six. Pat Devlin (Rider University/Herndon Braves) pitched the ninth and got the win for the Ripken League, which has won both of its exhibition games to start the four-game Puerto Rico series.
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