carey on … not

A storybook finish just wasn’t in the cards for William Carey, though the Crusders made quite the run at it. Carey’s eventful season ended early this morning in an 8-7 loss to Southern Poly in the NAIA opening round tournament at Hattiesburg. The Crusaders (36-22) had dropped into the losers bracket on the first day of the event but battled back with three straight do-or-die victories. The Southern Poly game, which began about 10:30 p.m. on Thursday, was Carey’s fourth in two days. Down 8-2 in the ninth, the Crusaders scored five times, including a three-run homer by Josh Dannelley, but came up short of extending their tournament. Southern Poly, the top seed, advances to the NAIA World Series. Crusaders coach Bobby Halford won his 800th game this season, the Crusaders won the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular season title, and the school was rewarded a host role for the regional at spiffy Wheeler Field. Carey also celebrated the 40th anniversary of its NAIA national championship earlier this season. It’s a shame they couldn’t make a return trip to the series. That would’ve been special.
P.S. Elsewhere in small college land: Belhaven’s season ended Thursday after a nice run in its NAIA regional. Millsaps, which won its NCAA Division III opener at the Central Regional, will have to wait until Saturday to play again because of rain in Moline, Ill. Hinds Community College beat Itawamba, the top seed, by an 8-7 count in the NJCAA Division II Region 23 tournament at LSU-Eunice on Thursday. LSUE, playing at home where it almost never loses, whipped Holmes 12-2. ICC and Holmes, who met for the MACJC championship last weekend, were to play an elimination game today. Meridian CC is scheduled to play today in a D-I district championship at Maple Woods, Mo.
P.P.S. ICC, the No. 4 team in the country, is done after a stunning 10-0 loss to Holmes, a team it had beaten six straight times this season. The Bulldogs scored all 10 runs in the sixth inning, eight of them unearned, according to the report from ICC.