Delta State’s Byrd pitches complete game to beat Alabama Huntsville and advance in postseason

OXFORD, Ala. — Adrian Byrd pitched a complete game and Delta State University baseball team rallied from an early deficit to beat Alabama Huntsville 9-5 Friday at Choccolocco Park. The win allows the Statesmen (28-19) to advance to face Lee in the next round of the postseason tournament.

Alabama Huntsville took a 5-2 lead in the third inning, capitalizing on a Delta State error and a three-run home run by Gavin Galenza. Despite the early setback, Byrd settled in and kept the Chargers off the board for the rest of the game, striking out nine, allowing seven hits and one walk over nine innings.

Delta State responded with two runs in the second inning, drawing four walks and a wild pitch. The team pulled within one in the fifth, with Tucker Jones tripling home Austin Estes and Levi Lang adding an RBI double to make it 5-4. The game turned in the seventh inning, when Estes doubled and later scored on a wild pitch to tie the game. Cade Greer reached on a fielder’s choice that resulted in a two-run error, giving the Statesmen an 8-5 lead. Austin Batts added an RBI single in the eighth to extend the lead to 9-5.

Jones drove in Henley Parker with a single in the eighth for insurance. Offensively, Delta State totaled 10 hits, with Jones going 2-for-5 with three RBIs. Estes finished 2-for-2 with two runs scored and an RBI, while Lang added two hits and an RBI. Byrd improved to 8-1 this season with his complete-game effort, throwing 135 pitches.

The team will face Lee in the next round on Saturday as part of a six-team double-elimination bracket in the postseason tournament.

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