GOODYEAR, AZ – Millennium infielder Trevor Baugh was the hero for the Tigers on Monday night. Baugh had three hits, one walk and three RBIs, including a walk-off single to cap the Tigers’ seven-run comeback.

“I had faced that pitcher last inning and I knew that he was gonna give me something to hit, and I was just ready to hit first pitch.” said Baugh.

The player that Baugh brought home for the winning run was Alex Figueroa, who hit a clutch triple. Figueroa, who went hitless in his first two at-bats, gave credit to coach Jerod Burleson and his speech in the fifth inning as motivation to play better.

The Carl Albert Titans had built a six-run lead at the time, and Burleson’s speech motivated the Tigers enough to score four runs the following inning and eventually win by a score of 8-7.

“It was coach,” said Figueroa. “He stopped us after that 7-1 lead. He said ‘Hey, calm yourselves down, stop what you’re doing, reset, new game, we have a job to do.’ I really just took that into my mindset.”

Burleson was pleased with the resiliency that the Tigers showed throughout the game.

“It shows maturity … and heart,” said Burleson. “I know saying ‘heart’ is cliché or whatever, but when you give up seven runs in an inning, those games are so easy to lose. We answered back the very next half with a four-run inning. I thought that was probably the biggest achievement for us.”

With this win, the Tigers improved to 8-1 overall on the season. This was also their first win in this year’s Coach Bob Invitational tournament. The tournament is notable for having teams from outside Arizona included in the competition. The Carl Albert Titans made the trip from Midwest City, OK.

While the tournament has become an important annual tradition in Arizona high school baseball, Burleson mainly views it as a chance to give his less-experienced ballplayers the chance to play on a bigger stage.

“We want to win every game, obviously,” said Burleson. “But, I don’t think our focus is going out like this is the AIA 5A State Championship. This is an opportunity for some younger guys to showcase and earn a spot. I wouldn’t say, necessarily, that this win will propel us to go deeper in this tournament as much as it is a confidence booster for a lot of our guys struggling.

Burleson’s biggest takeaway from Monday night is that his team has now experienced a win in this manner.

“To be able to have that feeling, in a crunch, in the bottom of the eighth inning … and be able to come through," he said, "we were able to handle that moment and it’s good for us going forward.”