ODESSA, Texas – The Rogers State baseball team let a ninth-inning lead slip away in a 6-5 loss to Texas-Permian Basin in extra innings Saturday afternoon at Roden Field.
 
The Hillcats led by as many as three in the Heartland Conference series finale, but the Falcons rallied scoring three unanswered runs to close out the sweep, despite committing four errors.
 
RSU opened the scoring in the second inning as Samuel Davison was hit by a pitch to lead the inning. The junior advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a double off the bat of Colton Crocker for an early 1-0 edge.
 
UTPB answered with a solo home run by Jordan Zazulak in the bottom of the sixth before the Hillcats retook the lead in the seventh behind five hits. Caleb Kohlmeyer started the inning pulling a double down the line in left and scored on a RBI single from Cesar Rodriguez. The margin extended on Chris Miguel's RBI double and moved to 4-1 as Davison plated Miguel with a single.
 
Spotted with a three-run lead, the bullpen took over and allowed two runs in the bottom half of the seventh as UTPB got back-to-back RBI singles cutting the lead to one, 4-3.
 
Crocker delivered again for RSU in the ninth, hitting a RBI single scoring Jason Marley for an unearned run and a 5-3 margin. The Falcons got to closer Rusty Huber in his second inning of work, after entering for the start of the eighth inning, scoring the game on a two-run single. UTPB brought home the winning run in the 10th inning on a sacrifice fly for its first conference series win of the season.
 
Crocker led the offense with three hits and was joined by Rodriguez, Ismael Orozco, and Garrett Hall with multi-hit efforts.
 
The Hillcats (22-17 overall, 8-10 HC) are back in action April 19 on the road for a non-conference game at Drury. The single game is slated to begin at 3 p.m.