TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Interstat) — The Florida A&M Rattlers erased an early seven-run deficit and walked off with a 9-8 victory over the Texas Southern Tigers in 16 innings Saturday afternoon at Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium.

Caden Kresak, who entered the game as a starting pitcher and later moved to left field, earned the win with three innings of scoreless relief and also contributed with his bat. The Rattlers improved to 27-22 overall and 21-10 in Southwestern Athletic Conference play. The Tigers fell to 18-21 and 14-14.

Texas Southern jumped ahead in the second inning, sending 10 batters to the plate and scoring five runs. Byron Robinson scored on a fielder’s choice by Evan Joubert, and Shaun Williams followed with a two-run single to left. Christopher Chavez added an RBI single to make it 5-0. The Tigers tacked on three more runs in the sixth and seventh innings, building an 8-1 lead.

Florida A&M began its comeback in the bottom of the seventh. After a sacrifice fly from Kresak scored Josue Figueroa, Jackson McKenzie cleared the bases with a three-run double to center, cutting the deficit to 8-5. The Rattlers then pulled even in the ninth. McKenzie singled home Kresak to make it 8-6, and Ethan Miller doubled to left to score another run. Figueroa’s sacrifice fly tied the game at 8.

Neither team scored in the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th or 15th innings, as both bullpens traded zeros. Texas Southern’s Demarques Thompson threw 7 2/3 innings of one-hit relief, striking out three, and Zachary Laviage added five innings of one-hit ball with four strikeouts. For Florida A&M, Kresak worked three perfect frames with three strikeouts, Ryan Young allowed one hit in 2 1/3 scoreless innings, Cody Williams tossed two hitless innings, and Jay Campbell gave up five hits but no runs in three innings.

In the bottom of the 16th, Figueroa led off with a single to left. After Jordan Brown struck out, Will Brown singled to third, moving Figueroa to second. Kresak grounded into a fielder’s choice, but Figueroa advanced to third. Jay Campbell was intentionally walked to load the bases, and then a wild pitch by Texas Southern allowed Figueroa to score the winning run.

Williams led Texas Southern’s offense, going 3 for 7 with five RBIs. McKenzie was 3 for 5 with four RBIs for Florida A&M. Miller also had three hits and drove in one run.

The Rattlers outhit the Tigers 18-13.

The series began Thursday with Florida A&M winning 4-2 and continued Friday with a 13-2 victory. Texas Southern had lost three straight entering the game.

Interstat’s game simulator projected a final score of Florida A&M 5, Texas Southern 3, and its ELO system gave the Rattlers a 66.70 percent probability to win.