The Thunder and Wildcats gave BYU–Idaho baseball fans a reason to stay until the end with an 8-7 victory for the Thunder on Sept. 17.
The Thunder survived a late-game rally from the Wildcats to prevail.
Thunder pitcher Chad Hernandez, a freshman from Carmichael, Calif., hurled three straight scoreless innings to start the game.
Behind the bat of Dave Deacon, a freshman from Fort Collins, Colo., who had three RBIs in the first four innings, the Thunder jumped to a 7-0 lead.
However, Hernandez struggled to get through the fourth as the Wildcats, with the help of a two-run double by Rick Packard, a freshman from San Marcos, Calif., who put three runs on the board.
Coming into the game to start the fifth inning, Mitchell Bradshaw, a junior from Nampa, Idaho, held off the Wildcats by pitching a scoreless inning.
In the top of the sixth inning, the Thunder helped solidify their effort with an RBI by Micah Zabriskie, a sophomore from Nicholasville, Ky., that gave them an 8-3 lead going into the bottom of the sixth and final inning.
Then things got a little tough for Bradshaw and the Thunder. Bradshaw started the rough patch by plunking Stephen Wood, a freshman from Rigby, with a pitch.
Afterwards the Wildcats came alive to score four runs against the Thunder off of Bradshaw and his replacement, Deacon, before Deacon retired the last batter for the win.
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