Forget Hoosiers! Indiana Southeast Wins In Comeback For the Ages

The state of Indiana is known for the late Indiana Hoosiers coach Bobby Knight, Boston Celtic icon Larry Bird of Indiana State, the movie "Hoosiers," and the Indianapolis 500. And soon Caitlin Clark, who was to make her WNBA debut with the Indiana Fever on Tuesday night. 

But please don't forget the Indiana University Southeast Grenadiers of New Albany.

The NAIA Grenadiers, named after grenade-toting elite front line soldiers, brought new meaning to the term "soldiering on" in the opening game of the NAIA Baseball national tournament on Monday in Evansville, Indiana. That is one of the tournament's 10 sites around the country with the 10 winners advancing to the NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho, from May 24-31.

That would be special for Indiana Southeast, which improved to 34-18 on the season on Monday with two wins - 14-11 over Indiana Tech and 4-0 over Missouri Baptist.

But perhaps not as special or nearly as memorable as how exactly Indiana Southeast beat Indiana Tech, 14-11. 

Indiana Tech led the Grenadiers, 11-2, with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth inning.

"I don't even know how to explain it," said first-year Indiana Southeast coach Brett Neffendorf in the Indianapolis Star newspaper.

Well, for starters, Indiana Tech never got the third out.

The Grenadiers exploded like a series of individually ignited grenades for 12 runs on seven hits, three walks and two errors for the victory. After Kody Putnam doubled with two on for one run to tie the score, 11-11, Trevor Goodwin hit a three-run, walk-off home run for the 14-11 win.

"It was surreal," Putnam said. "We're just blessed to be a part of it. That's a special game that we're going to be able to tell our children about one day."

And they'll always like Mondays.

"When you go ahead and execute and do your job, it gets a lot more simple," Putnam said.

"No matter what happens, our guys will always be able to carry it with them as a story of resilience and never giving up," Neffendorf said.

The Grenadiers were scheduled to play Taylor University on Wednesday in the double-elimination tournament.

If they fall behind 6-0 after four innings or 9-0 after six to Taylor as they did to Indiana Tech, the Grenadiers will probably still believe they can win.

Indiana Southeast Was A Routine 6-3 Play Away From Losing 11-2 

Indiana Southeast would have lost 11-2 on Monday if Indiana Tech shortstop Parker Bates could've fielded a routine ground ball hit by Luke Powell and thrown accurately to first base with two outs and nobody on. But he committed a fielding error, and the first grenade sparked.

"Playing in the postseason is about having a low heart rate," Neffendorf said.

Indiana Tech did survive its broken heart well enough to survive and beat MidAmerican Nazarene, 8-7, in an elimination game on Monday. And the Warriors (33-22) were to play Missouri Baptist in another elimination game,

After Bates' error, Putnam singled to put runners on the corners. Goodwin singled in one run, and Max Flock doubled in two more to cut Indiana Tech's lead to 11-5. After a walk and another error, another run scored. Then Slater Schield singled in another run, cutting Tech's lead to 11-7. Another walk loaded the bases. Another walk cut the lead to 11-8. Powell singled in two runs, and it was 11-10.

Putnam came up, and you know the rest of the story.

"We'll never forget that game," Putnam said.