What looked to be the
makings of a
Cincinnati Steam
combined victory both
offensively and on the
mound, the Duke Blue
Devils changed that
rather quickly with a 2
run, 2 out walk off
homerun in the bottom of
the ninth off Michael
Lucas.
Charlie Leesman started
the game for Xavier and
pitched 7.2 innings of
quality ball scattering
7 hits, giving up 2 runs
(only 1 earned),
striking out 5 while
walking only 1. Giving
way to fellow Steam
teammate Brett
Greenwell to finish the
8th. Then the third
Steam pitcher of the
game, Michael Lucas was
given the ball to close
the 9th and
after retiring Duke's
5th and 6th
place hitters, 7th place
hitter Alexander Hassan
singled up the middle
and the 8th place
hitter, Blue Devil
Shortstop Gabriel Saade
hit the game winning 2
run home run to
centerfield.
With Xavier up 2-1 in
the bottom of the 7th,
Leesman gave up the
tying run, but in the
top of the 8th Xavier
rallied behind the
fourth Steam member from
Xavier, Designated
Hitter
Steve Brown.
Brown singled to start
the 8th, was sacrificed
over to 2nd, moved up to
3rd on a groundout and
scored, at the time, the
go ahead run.
The loss drops Xavier to
1-12 on the young season
with a 3 game series vs.
Western Carolina
starting on Friday the
9th.
