Stornello's walk-off homer in extras lifts Crowder to first-round win in Grand Junction

May 30—GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Adamo Stornello won't ever forget about this one.

The Crowder College catcher made perhaps the biggest play of his baseball career on Sunday afternoon, hitting a walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift the fifth-seeded Roughriders to a thrilling 5-4 win over the sixth-seeded Central Arizona College Vaqueros in the first round of the NJCAA Division I World Series at Suplizio Field.

"First walk-off of my life, so (I'm) pretty happy to have it out here," Stornello, a Central Missouri commit, said in a postgame radio interview. "I'm pretty pumped about it.

"I'm not the biggest home run hitter out here. But he (Central reliever Matt Wilkinson) threw a fastball to start the at-bat off. He backed that up with a curveball. I knew there was a good chance the fastball was coming again. I tried to catch it out front and I didn't miss it for the boys. I was happy to get it done."

Stornello's game-winner capped a wet, windy and wild contest that featured a pair of rallies by the Vaqueros as well as a two-hour rain/hail delay in the bottom of the eighth inning.

"It's been that way all year," Crowder coach Travis Lallemand said. "We've played four games on schedule all year. I said, 'Let's keep this thing going.' Every time it seems like we have something scheduled, rain moves it around. They've been weathered by this the whole season. I'm proud of them. They responded."

The triumph advanced Crowder in the championship bracket to take on either second-seeded Wabash Valley or eighth-seeded San Jacinto North on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. (CST).

The Roughriders held a 4-3 lead coming out of the eighth-inning weather delay. Central Arizona went on to strand a Crowder runner at third to end the frame and then tied the game up at 4-all in the top of the ninth on a two-out RBI single by pinch hitter Tyrese Johnson.

Crowder threatened to end the game in regulation in the bottom of the ninth. Clayton Gray led the frame off with a single through the right side before back-to-back intentional walks loaded the base paths with one out.

But the threat was ultimately stymied when Wilkinson induced consecutive flyouts for Gavin Glasgow and Kenny DiClemente, sending the game to extras.

Central had a runner reach on a single in the top of the 10th but couldn't push him across, which led to Stornello's heroics with two outs in the bottom of the inning.

The first five innings of the game played out as a pitchers' duel between Crowder starter Jacob Misiorowski and Central starter Tyler Woessner.

Woessner — a 6-foot-4, 235-pound righty with a fastball topping out at 97 mph in the game — was the first to flinch as Crowder put together one-run showings in the second, third and fifth innings.

Crowder drew first blood in the second when Landrey Wilkerson logged a two-out single up the middle to plate Jackson Cobb, who reached earlier in the frame on a double to left field.

The Roughriders' lead was pushed to 2-0 in the third as Gray crossed home plate on a double steal before Peyton Holt was tracked down and tagged for the final out in a rundown between first and second.

Crowder took its largest lead of the game, 3-0, in the fifth when Houston King singled up the middle to plate Gray, who double to left-center field in the prior at-bat.

It wasn't till the top of the sixth inning that the Vaqueros finally got to the hard-throwing Misiorowski, whose fastball was ranging between 97-101 mph throughout his outing. Central plated three runs on two hits and one Crowder fielding error to tie the game at 3-all.

Misiorowski, an LSU commit, took his exit after six innings of work. He limited Central to three earned runs and three hits while striking out 10 batters.

"He was really good," Lallemand said of Misiorowski. "He's got electric stuff. When he's in the zone, he can overwhelm some junior-college hitters and a lot of hitters. He's 96-101 (mph) with a good slider. He located that today.

"The conditions in the last few weeks were so hot and sticky down in New Orleans. When we got into the fifth and sixth inning, it cooled off for him. He got deep in the game. At 109 pitches, he had to labor through (the sixth inning). That was enough. He did what he had to do."

Crowder quickly reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI double by Jackson Cobb, who finished 4 for 5 with a triple, two doubles, a single, one RBI and one run scored.

"We were facing a hard righty (Woessner), so I was just trying to see something over the plate that I could put a barrel on," Cobb said. "I just felt good in the box today. I was just trying to be smooth, really."

Gray finished 3 for 3 with a double and two runs scored, while King went 2 for 4 with an RBI.

Jace Presley was credited with the win for Crowder after holding Central to one earned run and three hits in the final two innings. Jake Wilson added two scoreless innings in relief.

Woessner allowed four earned runs and seven hits while fanning seven in 5 1/3. Drew Sommers and Matt Wilkinson combined to limit Crowder to one earned run and six hits in 4 1/3.

Central was sent to the losers bracket to take on either Wabash Valley or Walters State on Tuesday morning.

Contact Jared Porter on Twitter at @JaredRyanPorter.