WICHITA, Kan. - Behind a walk-off home run by Wichita State’s Hunter Gibson, the Rose Hill, KS Sluggers defeated the Colorado Cyclones 9-7 in the 2020 NBCWS powered by Evergy on Wednesday night at Eck Stadium.
Gibson led the Sluggers with a 3-for-5 outing and two RBIs, with four total players recording multi-hit games for Rose Hill. Ryan Sullivan led the Cyclones with four hits in six at-bats to go with three RBIs.
After the Cyclones took the opening lead in the top of the first inning, the Sluggers opened the gap with a five-run bottom of the first inning. Mason Hartman hit a leadoff triple before Ryan Koval smashed a home run to give the Sluggers the 2-1 lead. Two singles allowed another run to score for the Sluggers, with two bases loaded walks allowing two more runs to cross home plate.
The Sluggers added an insurance run in the bottom of the second inning, but a sacrifice fly from Jake Haze and three-run home run from Ryan Sullivan cut the Cyclones’ deficit to one through the middle of the sixth inning. The Cyclones tied it up in the top of the seventh inning before the Sluggers responded to retake the lead a half-inning later, with Wichita State’s Ross Cadena scoring off a sacrifice fly following a lead-off double.
Jason Ajamian came up with a left field double in the top of the eighth inning for the Cyclones, with Wyatt Featherston driving in the tying run with a double in the next at-bat to make it a 7-7 game. Following a single by Ryan Koval, Gibson sealed the win with his two-run home run.
The Sluggers will take on either the Houston, TX Express or the Lonestar, TX Baseball Club on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. in Hutchinson.