Southeastern pinch-hitter Lakin Polk’s walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth lifted his side to a dramatic come-from-behind victory over North Dakota State on Sunday, (March 10) 11-10 at Alumni Field. 

The Lions dropped game one on Saturday (March 9) 6-3 to the Bison, but bounced back later that evening with an 8-6 win in the night-capper, before ultimately taking the series decider on Sunday. 

Following a four-run seventh inning in the rubber match, SLU took a commanding 8-2 lead over NDSU and seemed destined for a rather comfortable triumph. 

However, things took an unexpected turn for the worse, as the Bison rattled off eight runs of their own in the top of the eighth, claiming their first lead of the game, 10-8. 

North Dakota State used timely hitting and some good fortune to capitalize on some rather sloppy SLU pitching and defense.

The Lions surrendered seven free bases in the top of the eighth alone to the Bison in the form of five walks and two HBPs, while also committing a pair of costly errors.

Couple that slew of mistakes with a grand slam and suddenly North Dakota State had the upper hand. Amazingly, the four-run deep fly represented NDSU’s only hit of the inning, much to the frustration of the SLU faithful. 

Southeastern threw four pitchers to record three outs in a disastrous half inning of baseball. 

The Green and Gold would threaten in the bottom of the eighth, but to no avail. A lead-off single and HBP got the fans in Hammond on their feet.

A strikeout, foul out and ultimately a pop out soon dashed any hope of an immediate Lions’ response. 

Redshirt freshman lefty Larson Fabre kept the Bison bats at bay in the top of the ninth, retiring all three batters faced. 

Fabre’s damage control set up Southeastern with one last at-bat to manage two runs. 

Two groundouts to start the inning for the Lions seemingly ruled out any potential dramatics, but the Bison still needed to record one final out. 

Senior DH Rhett Rosevear stepped up to the plate and was plunked by NDSU’s Joey Danielson after going down in the count 0-1. 

Rosevear has now been hit by a pitch 83 times during his career, a Southeastern record.

Northwestern State transfer Gray Rowlett joined Rosevear on the bases following a single to center. 

Fellow NSU transfer Bailyn Sorenson joined the party with a single of his own through the left side to score Rosevear and advance Rowlett to second, cutting the Bison’ lead to one. 

Graduate right fielder Christian Garcia followed suit with a single down the third base line. Rowlett sped home to tie the game at 10-10 as Sorenson trotted into second. 

With momentum on his team’s side, Coach Bobby Barbier decided to use his final Trump card and chose sophomore Lakin Polk to pinch-hit for the most crucial at-bat of the contest. 

Polk happens to be one of the rare two-way players left in the modern college baseball game and stepped up to the plate after recording the win for game two on the mound for SLU just the day before. 

The Ponchatoula product delivered with a single up the middle, which brought pinch-runner Dom Regira around from second to score. 

The Lions had roared back for an unlikely two-out rally in the bottom of the ninth inning to claim the series 2-1. 

Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, Southeastern move to 12-6 on the season. 

Three SLU batters produced three hits each in the deciding win over NDSU. Jake Haze, Shea Thomas and Ryan Brome all brought the wood and combined for seven RBIs; Haze and Brome had three apiece. 

Fabre (W, 1-0) picked up the win, his first of the year.

The Green and Gold just took down the Tulane Green Wave (10-7) tonight at Alumni Field, by a score of 8-7.

Next up for the Lions is a home series against Saint Louis, which starts on Friday, March 15 at 6 p.m.

For all things Southeastern Baseball, check The Lion’s Roar to stay updated.