The Chattanooga State Tigers are one game away from going to the Junior College World Series after a nail-biter of a win over Young Harris on Saturday afternoon.
The Tigers finally broke open a 1-1 pitching duel with five runs in the top of the 11th to notch the victory.
The two teams are knotted at 1-1 and they will play the deciding game at Chattanooga State on Sunday at 2 p.m.
It was only the second loss for the Mountain Lions in the last 20 games.
They had captured the series opener on Friday.
Kendal Wells and former Red Bank star Beau Geren had doubles off the wall in right in the 11th to finally give the Tigers some breathing room.
Trey Burstrom opened the inning with a slow grounder to third that the third baseman could not handle. Wells then cranked a shot off lanky Young Harris pitcher Stephen McCray, who had gone the distance.
Trey Curtis delivered another run with a soft fly in front of the centerfielder. Third baseman Mike Rangel kept the hit parade going to push the score to 6-1.
Curtis also had an RBI in the fifth inning.
Young Harris finally to Tiger starter Drew Bowlin in the seventh after a single and then a double down the rightfield line. Adam Hinojosa came in and promptly hit the first batter he faced. But he then shut down the Mountain Lions.
Chattanooga State closer Lee Henry from Karns High School went the rest of the way, including striking out the side to finish the contest.
Chattanooga State Technical Community Co (52 - 11) Young Harris College (44 - 20)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A
Cheverton, Heath SS 6 0 1 0 0 1 2 2
Burstrom, Trey 2B 4 1 0 0 0 1 4 2
Rochester, Nate C 4 0 0 0 1 0 12 1
Wells, Kendal 1B 5 1 2 1 0 0 6 2
Geren, Beau LF 5 2 2 1 0 0 0 0
Henry, Alex CF 3 1 1 0 2 1 7 0
Green, Coty DH 5 0 0 0 0 3 0 0
Curtis, Trey RF 5 1 2 3 0 0 1 0
Rangel, Michael 3B 5 0 3 1 0 1 0 0
Bowlin, Drew P 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Hinojosa, Adam P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Henry, Lee P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total: 42 6 11 6 3 7 33 7
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A
King, Jonathan LF 6 0 1 1 0 5 4 0
Hornsby, Mike SS 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 6
McCray, Stephen P 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Lobacz, Mike 1B 3 0 0 0 2 0 13 0
Lyons, J.C. CF 4 0 2 0 0 0 5 0
Rhinesmith, Zac 2B 3 0 1 0 2 0 2 2
Thomas, Mark C 5 0 1 0 0 2 6 3
Sanders, Matt 3B 5 1 2 0 0 2 0 1
Markakis, Mike RF 4 0 0 0 0 2 2 0
Matthews, Charles P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total: 39 1 9 1 4 12 33 12
Score by Innings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 - R H E
Chattanooga State Technic 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 - 6 11 0
Young Harris College 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 1 9 2
E- Lyons, Sanders
DP- CSTC(1): Burstrom,Cheverton,Wells; YHC(1): Hornsby,Rhinesmith,Lobacz LEFT- CSTC(7): Curtis,Cheverton,Henry,Rangel(3),Wells; YHC(12): Hornsby(2),King,Rhinesmith(3),Lobacz(2),Thomas,Lyons,Sanders,McCray
2B- King, Rhinesmith, Geren, Wells(2) 3B-
HR-
SB- Geren, Henry CS- Lyons, Henry
SH- Markakis, Burstrom SF-
Chattanooga State Technic IP H R ER BB SO AB
Bowlin, Drew 6.1 7 1 1 3 8 24
Hinojosa, Adam 1.2 1 0 0 0 0 5
Henry, Lee 3.0 1 0 0 1 4 10
Total: 11.0 9 1 1 4 12 39
Young Harris College IP H R ER BB SO AB
McCray, Stephen 10.1 9 5 4 3 5 38
Matthews, Charles 0.2 2 1 0 0 2 4
Total: 11.0 11 6 4 3 7 42
Winner- Henry, Lee Loser- McCray, Stephen Save-
WP- PB- Rochester BK-
HBP- Hinojosa(2)