WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Palm Beach Atlantic baseball defeated No. 20 Barry on Wednesday in an exciting extra-inning ballgame, as PBA won 7-4 on a walk-off homer from junior Brandon Smith. PBA has now won seven out of eight games and improve to 13-12 on the year while Barry's nine-game winning streak is snapped as the Bucs fall to 19-5.
Sailfish starter Matt Leslie worked in and out of trouble several times on Wednesday, including in the third inning where the Bucs loaded the bases with nobody out before Leslie retired three straight hitters to escape the jam without scoring a run.
Barry finally broke through in the top of the fifth, as some sloppy Sailfish defense led to two unearned runs for the Bucs. Leslie completed his outing after five innings while allowing just the two unearned runs while striking out five.
Brandon Smith and Sean Houck both walked to lead off the bottom of the fifth, and Marcos Perez and Derek Schwimer both followed with RBI singles that tied the game at two. With two outs in the inning Brandon Seltzer drilled a single to left field that scored two more runs to give the 'Fish a 4-2 lead.
The Buccaneers tied the game in the sixth as Ariel Diaz launched a two-run homer to right-center field.
Orsen Josephina pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth innings to keep the game tied at four, as the senior struck out two hitters without allowing a hit.
Joey Hennessey pitched two strong innings of relief as well as he kept the Bucs off the scoreboard and sent the game to the bottom of the 10th tied at four.
Connor Rowland and Danny Tufariello both singled with two outs to extend the 10th, and Brandon Smith greeted a new Buccaneer pitcher with a towering three-run homer to right center to give the Sailfish a walk-off victory.
Marcos Perez went 3-for-4 on the night as he scored a run and drove in another. Schwimer went 2-for-5 in the game as the Sailfish out-hit the Bucs 10-6. Hennessey picks up the win in relief after his two scoreless frames.
The Sailfish will be back in action on Friday as they will open up a Sunshine State Conference weekend series against No. 16 Nova Southeastern University. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 6 p.m.
