Boxscore
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The 15th-ranked Auburn Montgomery Warhawks needed all nine runs they scored in Saturday's elimination game against Siena Heights in Daytona Beach. AUM emerged with a 9-8 victory over the Saints and will move on to play top-seed Embry-Riddle in tonight's championship game; the Warhawks will have to beat the Eagles twice to advance to the Avista-NAIA World Series. Siena Heights ends their special season at 33-25 while AUM improves to 38-23 on the year.
The Saints struck first with runs in the second and third to take a 2-0 lead, but AUM scored three in the fifth to take a 3-2 lead. Hunter Cross brought in two runs with a single to shallow center field, pushing the Warhawks in front.
Siena Heights did what they've done all tournament long in the botom of the fifth, scoring three runs to retake a 5-3 lead, the big blow coming on a Corey Caldwell single through the left side.
The next three innings featured three lead changes as AUM scored four in the sixth and one each in the seventh and eighth, while the Saints tallied a trio of runs in the bottom of the seventh.
The winning run for AUM came off the bat of Cross when he doubled down the right field line to bring Brian Wheeler all the way from home for the ninth run of the day.
Cody Hall, less than 24 hours after throwing eight innings against ERAU, pitched the final 2.2 innings,and every single out he recorded was via a strikeout. Hall finished with eight Ks, and received the win, improving to 9-3 overall in 2012.
