The Selma Times-Journal

Greenville probably didn’t expect the late-inning fight Selma put up Tuesday night.

The Saints broke the Tigers’ hopes of ending the game early in the sixth and threatened a seven-run comeback in the bottom of the seventh.

Then Greenville got a gift in the form of a botched base-running play and held on for a 15-14 win at Bloch Park.

The Saints (1-2) trailed 15-8 going into the seventh and had already cut that disadvantage to three runs when Darius Steele walked to load the bases with two outs. Justin Brown cleared the bags when he roped a double to the left field gap, brining Selma within a hit of tying the game.

Two pitches into the next at-bat, Brown pulled up on a steal attempt and got caught in a rundown to end the game.

Selma tapped reliever Rush Nimmer for all six runs in the seventh, and starter Ethan Mauch re-entered to pitch after Brown’s hit.

The Tigers (5-4) had a chance to win via the 10-run mercy rule after going ahead 15-5 in the sixth inning.

With two outs, Jeremy Phillips extended the game with an RBI single. A wild pitch brought in another run, and Steele plated a run with a triple to make it a 15-8 game.

Darius Thigpen lasted the first three innings for Selma, and he got the loss after allowing seven runs.

Mauch took the win for the Tigers.

Before that wild seventh inning, the closest Selma got was trailing 2-1 in the second after T-Ray Mitchell scored on a double steal.

The Tigers blew up for five runs in the third on RBI hits from Antonio Smith, Demarius Robinson, and Hunter Harrell.

Selma put a three-spot up in the fourth to make the game 7-4, but found itself down 10-4 in the fifth.

Of the 29 combined runs, 18 came in the last three innings.