FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – On a night that started with the legendary Golden Knights parachuting onto the field prior to a moving Prisoner of War remembrance ceremony, it seemed fitting that the East All-Stars had to fight there way back from a late three run deficit to win 4-3 over the West.
Early on it was all pitching as multiple All-Stars from the East and the West showed their stuff with only an unearned run scoring for the East to make it 1-0 heading into the fourth inning. It was here that the West started their push with a Logan Moody (Savannah / Georgia) single to left to drive in Zachary Files (Florence / Florida International) who scored doubled to lead off the inning.
Barrett Loseke (Gastonia / Arkansas) came on in the bottom half of the fourth to shutdown the East All-Stars striking out all three batters he faced to keep the momentum rolling for the West as they tacked on one more in the fifth when Brett Auckland (Lexington County / Presbyterian) came in to score on a wild pitch to make it 2-1 West.
The West would later add one more run to make it 3-1 and their pitchers continued their dominations as Taylor Sugg (Lexington County / North Carolina), Chaz Miller (Forest City / Bluefield) and Bryan Blanton (Asheboro / Catawba) didn’t allow a run in their three innings of work.
Yet just when it seemed like the West All-Stars were headed for the 2016 title, Kurt Sinnen (Peninsula / Old Dominion) stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the eighth with James Latona (Wilson / Mercyhurst) on base after a single, and crushed a home run to deep right-field to tie the game at three. Later in the inning, Matt Lahn (Fayetteville / Lock Haven )drove in what would be the winning run on a sac-fly that score Tyler Weyenburg (Morehead City / Presbyterian) to give the East a 4-3 lead.
Christian Campbell (Morehead City / Rutgers) came on in the bottom of the ninth to cap off the 4-3 win for the East All-Stars and earn the save. David Marriage of Fayetteville and Towson earned the win.
The night was capped off with the presentations of the Hitter and Defensive Player of the Game awards. Loseke earned Pitcher of the Game Honors while Sinnen earned Hitter of the Game.