PITTSBURG -- Cade Clemons smacked a two-run pinch hit walkoff home run with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Pittsburg State University baseball team to a 10-9 victory and a doubleheader sweep of Fort Hays State University Saturday (Apr. 27) at Al Ortolani Field. The Gorillas posted a 14-2 run-rule win over the Tigers in game one Saturday.
Pitt State (32-16, 22-11 MIAA) fell behind, 6-0, early in the regular season finale. The Gorillas trimmed the margin to 6-5 only to see FHSU (25-24, 12-21 MIAA) make it a 9-5 game in the top of the eighth. Pitt State got RBI hits from Dylan Kurahashi-Choy Foo and Hayden Dyer in the bottom of the eighth inning. Dyer's shot to left field hit the top of the wall, just missing a game-tying two-run homer.
Cole Askew (1-0) retired the Tigers in the top of the ninth to set up Clemons' dramatics. A.J. Craft singled off FHSU reliever Maley (2-4) one batter ahead of Clemons, who promptly drove the ball over the left field fence for the victory.
In game one, Choy Foo hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the first and the Gorillas built an 8-0 cushion after three innings and a 13-0 lead by the end of the fifth.
Josh Holmes went 4-for-5 with a pair of home runs and three RBI. Nixon Brannan doubled and drove in four runs, while Dyer had a 4-for-4 game at the plate. Gage Singer (1-1) limited the Tigers to four hits over 6.0 innings of work and registered nine strikeouts.