The Crowder College baseball team, thanks to a pair of big games, are possibly a win away from a trip to the NJCAA World Series.

The Roughriders, the No. 1 seed in the Region XVI tournament, opened with a come-from-behind victory over No. 8 seeded North Central Missouri College, 9-7 on Friday.

Crowder won 16-5 over St. Charles Community College Saturday to advance to the winner’s bracket final this morning against Jefferson County College.

With an unfavorable weather forecast, Crowder coach Travis Lallemand noted that the early morning game might decide the winner of the tournament.

The Roughriders led, fell behind, led again, fell behind again and then rallied against the Pirates to prevent a major upset.

Crowder jumped ahead 3-0 in the first inning, when Tyler Anglin smacked a two-run double and Bubby Williams hit his 14th home run of the season.

North Central then answered with four runs in the top of the second inning to grab the lead. Derrick Edmonds and Zane Walker had RBI singles, before Gus Durst knocked in two runs with a double.

The Roughriders, in the bottom half of the second inning, came back with a pair of runs to grab a 5-4 lead. Neosho product Tanner Pogue hit a two-run double to the right center field gap to score Kyle Zimmerman and Matty Johnson.

The Pirates then scored three straight runs to take a 7-5 advantage. In the third inning, Edmonds had a two-run single. In the fourth inning, David Bliss hit a solo home run.

From that point, Crowder came to win it, though it took some time.

In the fourth inning, Richie McVey doubled and scored on an error, making it 7-6. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Johnson singled. Pogue then was hit by a pitch, before Anglin hit a walk-off three-run homer to win the game.

Anglin finished the game 2-for-4 with 5 RBI. Johnson led the team with three hits and scored three runs.

Daniel Golden, who threw a perfect seventh inning, got the victory for Crowder. The right-hander threw only six pitches to get out of the inning.

Greg Seay started and threw 3 1/3 innings, giving up nine hits and five earned runs, while striking out five. Josh Brock then came in and threw 2 2/3 innings, giving up only one hit.

“That was the momentum swing there,” said Lallemand. “Josh came in and did a good job.”

Crowder 15, St. Charles 6

Holding onto a slim one-run lead, the Roughriders exploded for 11 runs in the third inning to break open its game against St. Charles Community College Saturday afternoon.

The Roughriders, the visitors in this game, went up 3-0 in the first inning, just as they did in the first game. Williams had an RBI double and Mike Dunlavy had a two-run double to bring home  the runs in the first inning.

The Cougars came back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first on singles from Zach Kinkeade and Kenny Bechaud.

Crowder then broke out for 11 runs in the third inning to grab a 14-2 lead.

Anglin reached by an error to open the inning before Williams smacked his 15th home run of the season. Johnson later added a two-run single. Anglin, in his second at-bat of the inning, had a three-run double. Johnson, in his second at-bat, drew a bases-loaded walk.

Will McGinnis hit a two-run double and capped the scoring when he came home on a passed ball.

Crowder’s 15th and final run came on a solo home run by Anglin in the fourth inning.
Lallemand noted the game was in danger of being suspended and made up at 8 a.m. Sunday because the lack of lights at Mineral Area’s field, however the game got completed.

Nevada product Cody Thompson started and threw six innings, striking out three and giving up five earned runs to get the win. Don Lisi  threw the final inning, striking out two.

Williams led Crowder with three hits. McVey, Dunlavy, McGinnis, Johnson and Anglin all had two hits.

“We had two good games,” said Lallemand. “We were able to throw off and use other guys so we still got our No. 1 (Lisi) and No. 2 (Golden) ready to go. It couldn’t have worked out any better. Each of them had a chance to throw an inning to get their feet wet in the tournament.”

Crowder is now 33-25 with the victories.