Written by Erin Hughes

For the second time in three days, the Alexandria Aces celebrated a walk off win in the 12th inning at their home stadium. The Aces took the 3-2 victory over the D.C. Grays at Frank Mann Field on Friday night to move to 2-1 on the season. 

Although the game was a battle, Aces head coach Chris Berset said that “luckily, we have a very talented squad top to bottom…it’s just like the next wave, we like to say, just keep working out there, keep trying to make your adjustments.” 

The first inning saw both teams send four batters to the plate, but sit down three without giving up a run. Both Aces pitcher Mason Christopher (Seton Hall) and Grays pitcher Ethan Nagy (Lock Haven) went three up, three down in the second inning, with each pitcher fanning a batter and Nagy catching one looking.

In the top of the third, Grays left fielder Andrew Ruggeri (Penn) led off the inning with a single, but Christopher sat the next three batters down in order. In the bottom half of the inning, Nagy walked two batters but recorded all three outs on strikeouts. 

Both pitchers kept the fourth inning scoreless, with each logging another strikeout in the inning. Grays second baseman Ryan Soong (WashU) was able to swipe a bag in the top of the fourth as the only baserunner of the inning.

Aces catcher Diego Pena (Western Michigan) caught a runner stealing in the top of the fifth for his first of the season. Pena and his Western Michigan teammate, Cooper Hums, led off the bottom of the inning with back to back singles for the Aces. Hums advanced to third on a double play that got Pena out. WIth a runner on third and two out, Drew Norton (Dickinson) entered the game to relieve Nagy and got a quick groundout to the second baseman to strand Hums.

Stephen Curry (Seton Hall) came in to start the top of the sixth inning for the Aces and went 1-2-3 for a clean inning. 

The bottom half of the sixth started with two quick outs for Norton, but the Aces recovered quickly as Adham Sahebzedah (George Washington) dropped in a single. EJ Hankerson (Maryland) and Gavin Degnan (Penn) walked to load the bases, but Norton forced a groundout to get out of the jam.

Curry began the top of the seventh with a big swinging strikeout, but it was quickly followed by a triple from Soong. Curry recorded the next two outs with a groundout and another swinging strikeout to leave Soong on third.

As Norton came out of the game in the bottom of the seventh, Jamie Whittier (Wofford) entered for the Grays. Pena struck immediately with a leadoff single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Will Twomey (Michigan). Toby Hueber (George Mason) plated Pena with a single for the first run of the game, giving the Aces a 1-0 lead.

The lead did not last long as Ruggeri led off the eighth inning with a single, quickly swiping second base. A single from Noel Rivera (Marist) drove in Ruggeri to even the score at 1-1. Grays pitcher Alex Bergen (Gettysburg) tossed a 1-2-3 inning to send the game to the ninth all tied up.

Carter Jenkins (Nicholls State) and Andy Rivera (Holy Family) came out swinging for the Grays, knocking back to back singles to start the inning. A bunt single from Soong loaded the bases with nobody out, and Berset chose to go to Adam Lehman (Western Michigan) out of the bullpen. Lehman immediately got a fly out to right that kept runners where they were, and followed it by fanning two batters to get out of the inning. 

Looking to walk the game off in the ninth, Hums dropped in a leadoff single and stole second to get into scoring position. A flyout from Pena advanced Hums, but he was ultimately stranded after Bergen struck out the next two batters.

In the top of the 10th, Nate Lake (Shippensburg) toed the rubber for the Aces, but walked the first batter he faced, Joey Chitla (Wofford). He got the next batter to fly out, but a single from Luke Caucci (Lafayette) advanced Chitla to third. With runners on the corners, Jenkins hit a single to bring in Chitla. The next batter flew out for the second out, and Caucci was the third out as he got caught trying to score.

With their backs against the wall, the Aces showed real poise at the plate to tie the game again at 2 in the home half of the inning. After the first out, Ernie Echevarria (Penn) was hit by a pitch to get on first and was replaced by Owen Peterson (Navy). Sahebzadeh drew a full count walk and was pinch run for by Ayden VanEnkevort (Grand Valley State). A walk to Hankerson loaded the bases, and Degnan walked to force in the tying run. The Grays got out of the inning without allowing another run, but not before the score was evened again.

After a quiet 11th inning from both sides, Lake held down the top of the 12th to put the Aces back at the plate in the bottom half. Peterson dropped down a leadoff bunt single to start the inning and swing some momentum back towards the Aces. Ryley Norton (Elon) came in for a pinch hit single to put runners at first and second with nobody out. Hankerson flew out to left field and looked to advance Peterson to third, but a fielding error by the Grays allowed Peterson to cross home for the walk-off. 

Berset was impressed with all of his pitchers in the game, saying “they were the reason why we won, they kept us in there, and they were just fantastic,” but Lehman and Lake pitched particularly well for the Aces in relief. 

Lehman threw one inning in Wednesday’s win over the Thunderbolts, recording one strikeout and giving up one hit and one run, so when asked how he felt going to him again, Berset said, “I loved what I saw the first time, so [we] built that trust up quickly, but there’s no better guy in that moment - I mean how electric was that? That was pretty special, it got me fired up there too.” 

Lake, a rising college freshman, was noted by Berset for his composure in such a close game. “He got down a few times - they’re a good hitting team - and just kept his composure and just battled…just unbelievable to keep it there, where we needed to and just give us a shot.”