BURLINGTON, N.C. – For nine-and-a-half innings, the Pfeiffer baseball team (27-20) never led in their matchup against King in the Conference Carolinas opener, but one swing of Dalton Lindley's bat gave Pfeiffer a 7-6 walk off victory over the Tornado. The catcher crushed a two-out, two-run home run to right field that gave Pfeiffer its first win in the Conference Tournament since beating Belmont Abbey 6-4 on April 14, 2011.

"When I hit it, I didn't know if I had enough on it but I was hoping it would go out," said the senior Lindley. "I was just trying to keep the inning alive. We've been really close in the last couple of years and had some wins stolen from us in this tournament. It feels good to be on the other end this time."

Most recently, it was the Tornado (24-25) who stole one from Pfeiffer at last year's tournament. The Falcons entered the ninth with a one run lead but ended up losing in 10 innings by a score of 6-5. It looked like Pfeiffer would suffer the same exact fate this season as Lindley faced a 1-2 count with two outs as Pfeiffer trailed 6-5 in the 10th. Lindley's 19th HR of his career and ninth of the season scored Jordan Eckard and moved Pfeiffer into the winner's bracket.

"There's a lot of positives to take from this game," said Head Coach Dusty Blake. "Most importantly, it keeps us in the winner's bracket and it's also special for our seniors. For the program, this is what we have prepared for all year. Now we are three games away from winning a championship and our momentum and confidence are high." 

Lindley wasn't the only star of the game, many Falcons stepped up big. Hunter Jobe came on in relief and tossed a season-high 3.2 innings of scoreless relief, allowing only one hit. Jobe entered with Pfeiffer down 5-2 and his performance went a long way in determining the outcome.

"Jobe's shutdown performance changed the momentum of the game," said Blake. "He got our confidence going and kept us in the game, which gave us a chance to finish it the way we need to."

Another hero was first basemen Anthony Allende. With Pfeifer trailing by three in the bottom of the seventh, Allende's two-out, three-run homer to right center knotted the game at five and kept the momentum swinging in Pfeiffer's direction.

In the top of the eight, King has a chance to reclaim the lead, but Pfeiffer's Keith Little was summoned from the bullpen and got a huge ground out with the bases loaded to end the frame.

King took the upper hand on a run-scoring triple with one out in the 10th. However, the Tornado missed a chance at getting a valuable insurance run as Cody Rogers popped up a bunt on a suicide squeeze, which was easily turned into a double play.

Izzy Perez led off the bottom of the 10th with a line drive that was crushed but right at the shortstop for the first out. Eckard then hit what looked to be an easy double, but the freshman stumbled rounding first base and was held to just a single. After a strikeout by Cody McKenzie, the Falcons were down to their last strike until Lindley put it in the seats.

Zach Huneycutt earned the win to improve to 4-1 on the mound. Xavier Rodriguez went 2-for-4 with a run and two RBI's for the Falcons and added his seventh stolen base on the season.

The Falcons will advance to play the winner of the Erskine vs. Belmont Abbey game. First pitch will be at 7 p.m. at Burlington Athletic Park.