fight another day

One big rally was all the William Carey Crusaders had in them on Monday. After overcoming an eight-run deficit to beat LSU-Shreveport 11-10 in 10 innings, the Crusaders were whipped by St. Thomas 8-2 in the final game of the day in the NAIA Opening Round tournament in Hattiesburg. Carey (34-25), seeking a return to the NAIA World Series, faces an elimination game today. The Crusaders got key hits from Wes Brown, J.T. Wright and Caleb Ledet in their victory, which came on a walk-off HBP, but also rode the stellar relief work of Lake Robertson and Dylan Spiers (a combined five shutout innings). In their second game, the Crusaders ran into a buzzsaw in top-seeded St. Thomas. Orlando Rodriguez scattered seven hits over eight innings to improve to 14-0 and Jackie Urbaez and Mississippi State transfer Elih Marrero combined for seven RBIs for the Bobcats, who matched a school record with their 54th win. P.S. On the MLB front, former state prep stars Anthony Alford and Hunter Renfroe have been optioned to the minors. Alford, from Petal, went 2-for-14 in seven games for Toronto, which shipped him back to Triple-A Buffalo. Former Mississippi State star Renfroe, from Crystal Springs, was optioned to Triple-A El Paso by San Diego. He was hitting .200 with two homers in 17 games when he went on the disabled list with an arm injury in mid-April. He hasn’t played since.