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Oklahoma City - The first game of the NAIA Opening Round featured plenty of excitement but all that excitement made the end result more painful as the Sunbirds fell 10-9 in 10 innings to Belhaven, dropping into the loser's bracket of the Oklahoma City Regional.

Tyler Pryor hit a go-ahead grand slam in the bottom of the 8th, then a game-tying single with two outs in the 9th that sent the game to extra innings, however the Sunbirds were unable to maintain their momentum.

Belhaven scored nine runs in the last four innings, including what would prove to be the game-winner in the top of the 10th. The loss ruined what could have gone down as one of the greatest comebacks in school history in a game that featured numerous clutch at-bats by Sunbird hitters.

Pryor's slam came at a time when things looked bleak for the Sunbirds, who'd fallen behind 6-3 after leading for most of the game. Belhaven had just turned to closer Josh Clarke to get out of the inning, but Pryor hit a no-doubter, absolutely crushing a 1-1 pitch to make the score 7-6 Sunbirds.

That put the team within three outs of victory, but Belhaven managed to claw its way back off Ryan Castadio and Aaron Lynn, two of FPU's starters working out of the pen. The Blazers got three runs across in the inning and now would have their own opportunity to get the final three outs.

Once again things looked bleak for FPU as Clarke got two quick outs for Belhaven. Scott Laird drew a walk though, before David Hawes drove a double into the gap in right center to make the score 9-8. Andrew Douglas also drew a walk, giving Pryor the chance to be the hero again. After one pitch from Clarke, the Blazers opted to switch pitchers mid-count.

Pryor wasn't thrown off by the pressure or the pitching change, taking the first pitch he saw from Sean Kelly and driving it into right for a single. Alex Santacruz, pinch-running at second, raced around and beat the throw from right field to tie it.

The Sunbirds had a chance to put it away, but a fly out to right with the winning run on third would send the game to extra-innings. Greg Kilgore had worked the Sunbirds out of a jam the inning before, but walked the first two batters of the 10th.

Michael Jimenez came on and did all he could to keep a run off the board, but the Sunbirds caught a bad break with two outs and two on as a weak grounder was beat out by Belhaven's Jimmy Gilford in what would prove to be the winning-run.

Once again the Blazers were three outs away and got two quick outs to start the 10th. The Sunbirds weren't about to go down without any drama though and Michael Vaughn kept the game going with a single through the left side. Soares then drew a walk to put the winning run on base, but Laird would fly out to right to end what proved to be a major heartbreaker for FPU.

Though Belhaven ended up with 10 runs, the Blazers didn't get their first baserunner until the 5th inning. Matt Mazzoni got a no-decision after throwing 6 1/3 for the Sunbirds, looking sharp until running into some trouble in the 7th.

Mazzoni was in the zone early on, getting the first 12 batters out and blowing it by Blazer hitters. He got some run support from Wes Dorrell's solo blast in the first and Soares' RBI single which scored Karlan Andrews in the 3rd. He got some stellar play from his defense as well, as Alec Mehrten made a difficult over-the-shoulder catch in the 5th.

Allen Johnson started the game for the Blazers, working 6 2/3 innings and giving up three runs. Jon Patino and Clarke each got hit hard in relief. Kelly earned the win by coming on in the 9th and closing out the Sunbirds in the 10th.

FPU plays Texas-Brownsville in an elimination game at 11 am central (9 am Pacific) tomorrow. Belhaven plays the winner of tonight's Oklahoma City-Doane game.

4-seed Texas-Brownsville was defeated by 5-seed Doane 9-2 earlier today. UTB will be throwing ace-pitcher Danny Gidora, the RRAC Pitcher of the Year against the Sunbirds. FPU will likely counter with Jesse Darrah. If the Sunbirds can stave off elimination, they would play two games tomorrow, facing the loser of Oklahoma City-Doane later in the day.

Check back later for a preview of tomorrow's game.