The William Carey baseball team continues to run through the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) World Series, defeating top-ranked Southeastern 13-4 Monday night.
The victory for the No. 4 seed Crusaders gave legendary head coach Bobby Halford his 1,300th career victory, making him only the seventh coach in NAIA history to achieve the feat.
“Picking up career win 1,300 is a combination of a lot of great players and assistant coaches,” Halford said after the game. “I am very fortunate to be able to represent such a special place.”
Southeastern hopped out to an early 1-0 lead on a wild pitch from AJ Hinson in the top of the first inning, but it didn’t take long for the Crusader bats to heat up. In the bottom half of the inning, Patrick Lee put his team up 2-1 with a two-run shot over the left field fence.
William Carey added to its lead in the third with RBIs from Preston Ratliff and Rigoberto Hernandez. An inning later, the Crusaders, led by a solo home run from Jake Lycette, tacked on three more runs to extend their lead to 7-1.
Following one run from Southeastern in the sixth inning, William Carey responded with three more runs of their own to make it 10-2. The Fire would add two more runs in the bottom of the ninth, but at that point, it was too little too late as the Crusaders were able to close out the game and take home a 10-4 victory.
Stinson (8-2) found the win on the mound, striking out six over nine innings of work against one of the best offenses in America.
“We had a saying before the game – “Carpe Diem” – seize the day,” Stinson said. “Going up against one of the best teams, I wanted to do that, seize the day and give my team an opportunity to win.”
William Carey will return to action Tuesday at 8:35 p.m. against No. 3 seed Westmont. The game can be listened to on SuperTalk Mississippi Hattiesburg or through the SuperTalk Mississippi app.
