Tuscaloosa Products Shine For Bucs In Extra-Inning Upset To Open NJCAA World Series

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Fans at Sam Suplizio Field in Grand Junction, Colorado, were treated to some bonus baseball Saturday as the No. 9 seed Shelton State Buccaneers baseball team upset No. 2 seed Johnson County Community College of Kansas 6-5 in 10 innings to advance to the next round of the NJCAA World Series.

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Former Northridge High standout and University of Alabama baseball commit Tate Robertson started on the bump for the Bucs and threw 6.2 innings, notching four strikeouts and surrendering four earned runs before Knoxville, Tennessee native Hunter Merrick closed out the game to grab the win.

Merrick logged 3.1 innings of impressive relief work with two strikeouts. But no matchup was more exciting than the final out of the game, when the sophomore southpaw faced Johnson County left fielder Cooper Combs, who had already hit two homers in the game, including one off of Merrick in the bottom of the eighth that tied the game.

The lefty ultimately struck Combs out swinging and the dugout cleared for the Bucs as they celebrated the extra-inning win.

On the offensive side, freshman right fielder Jordan Evans, the son of former minor league catcher and Tuscaloosa Academy baseball coach Lee Evans, went 4-for-6 on the day with a RBI, hitting safely in his 11th straight game.

The biggest hit of the day for Jordan Evans, though, came when his older brother Houston Evans — a Florida State transfer — entered the game as a pinch runner with two outs in the 10th inning for former Northridge High Jaguar Davis Randolph, who had singled and reached second on a throwing error.

Jordan Evans singled to center to get his brother across home and help the Bucs earn a day off, with the next game set for 10 a.m. on Monday.

The win improved the program's all-time NJCAA World Series record to 11-11 as head coach Bobby Sprowl has guided the team to its sixth appearance in the hopes of bringing back to Tuscaloosa its first national title in JUCO baseball.

Bucs first baseman Wesley Helms, the son of former Atlanta Braves infielder Wes Helms, provided the most production at the dish with three RBIs on a pair of doubles.

Former Tuscaloosa Academy/Northridge High dual-sport athlete Whit Winfield, the catcher for the Bucs, also went 2-for-5 with a pair of singles, but was stranded on base both times.

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