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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2014 In 16 innings and nearly four hours of relentless, back-and-forth baseball, Florida A&M refused to lose. Josue Figueroa<\/a> scored from third on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 16th inning to give the Rattlers a stunning 9-8 victory over Texas Southern on Saturday, capping one of the most dramatic wins in recent program history. FAMU improved to 27-22 on the season with the walk-off, surviving a game that had every reason to slip away.<\/p>\n The Rattlers trailed 4-0 through two innings after starter Jesus Campa<\/a> was battered for four runs in the second. They trailed 8-4 heading into the bottom of the ninth, staring at a four-run deficit against a Texas Southern bullpen that had been shutting them down for innings. Then, inning by inning, at-bat by at-bat, FAMU clawed back.<\/p>\n The turning point came in the seventh. Kresak drew a walk, Jordan Brown<\/a> and William Brown<\/a> reached, and Jackson McKenzie<\/a> stepped in with the bases loaded and two outs against Texas Southern starter Landyn Grant. McKenzie sent a double to center field that cleared the bases, scoring three runs and reigniting a FAMU crowd that had been watching their team dig out of a hole all afternoon. The double made it 8-5 and gave the Rattlers something to believe in heading into the final frames.<\/p>\n FAMU kept grinding in the ninth. After Kresak’s RBI sacrifice fly scored Figueroa in the seventh to make it 8-5, the Rattlers mounted their most critical rally of the game in the bottom of the ninth. Justin Lopez<\/a> knocked in a run, Ethan Miller<\/a> doubled home another and Figueroa drew a sacrifice fly to score Lopez \u2014 three runs on a string of clutch two-out plate appearances that pulled FAMU level at 8-8. The stadium erupted. The game went to extras.<\/p>\n What followed was seven innings of gut-check baseball. Texas Southern and FAMU traded zeroes from the tenth through the fifteenth \u2014 a combined 14 innings of scoreless relief from both bullpens. Figueroa singled, William Brown<\/a> singled and Kresak reached on a fielder’s choice with two outs in the 13th, loading the bases, but FAMU couldn’t push across the run. The Rattlers had runners on in the 12th as well, with Ethan Miller<\/a> on third and two outs, only to be stranded again.<\/p>\n Caden Kresak<\/a> was the unsung hero of the extra innings, taking the ball in the 14th and 15th and retiring Texas Southern in order both frames. He struck out two, induced a double play and threw efficiently to keep FAMU alive inning after inning. JD Garner<\/a> entered in the 16th and worked a 1-2-3 top half in just five pitches, setting the stage.<\/p>\n Then the 16th arrived. Figueroa led off with a single to left. After a strikeout, William Brown<\/a> singled to advance Figueroa to second. Kresak reached on a fielder’s choice to put runners at first and third with two outs, and Texas Southern intentionally walked Jay Campbell<\/a> to load the bases \u2014 a decision that put the game’s fate on the next pitch. Texas Southern reliever Demarques Thompson uncorked a wild pitch with Justin Lopez<\/a> at the plate, and Figueroa came home standing up. Game over. FAMU wins.<\/p>\n McKenzie finished 1-for-5 with three RBIs and the pivotal hit of the game. Figueroa was 3-for-6 with an RBI, two runs scored and the walk-off. Miller went 3-for-7 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored from the five hole, reliable and productive deep into the night. William Brown<\/a> was 2-for-6 with a walk and a hit by pitch, reaching base five times across 16 innings.<\/p>\n Jay Campbell<\/a> took the mound in the 10th inning after FAMU had exhausted its bullpen options, providing six innings of pivotal relief and inducing multiple groundouts while his teammates battled at the plate. The two-way effort \u2014 from a position player stepping up in the biggest moment \u2014 underscored exactly the kind of depth and determination this Rattler team has shown all season.<\/p>\n
Batting Pitching \n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2014 In 16 innings and nearly four hours of relentless, back-and-forth baseball,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-273833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nKey Stats \u2014 Florida A&M 9, Texas Southern 8 (16 innings)
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nJackson McKenzie<\/a> \u2014 1-5, 2B, 3 RBI (3-run double in 7th with bases loaded, 2 outs)
\nJosue Figueroa<\/a> \u2014 3-6, SF, RBI, 2 R (scored walk-off on wild pitch in 16th)
\nEthan Miller<\/a> \u2014 3-7, 2B, RBI, 2 R
\nWilliam Brown<\/a> \u2014 2-6, R, BB, HBP (reached base 5 times in 16 innings)
\nCaden Kresak<\/a> \u2014 2-7, SF, RBI, R (also pitched 14th\u201315th innings cleanly)<\/p>\n
\nJD Garner<\/a> (W) \u2014 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K (5 pitches, 1-2-3 16th inning)
\nJay Campbell<\/a> \u2014 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K (innings 10-15 in relief)
\nCaden Kresak<\/a> \u2014 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K (innings 13-15)
\nTanner Walker<\/a> \u2014 1.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K (innings 8-9)
\nJesus Campa<\/a> \u2014 1.2 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 0 K (starter)<\/p>\n