BAINBRIDGE – After trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth, the Bainbridge-Guilford Bobcats snatched the lead with back-to-back blasts by Evan Hyzer and Tom Palmatier. B-G captured the 7-6 win over the Sherburne-Earlville Marauders Saturday afternoon.
The Marauders did attempt a comeback rally in the top of the seventh, scoring two in the inning, but fell short of sending the game into extra innings by a run.
The Bobcats took the lead first in the bottom of the third inning when sent a hard grounder to centerfield, sending Garrett Ives and Owen Drown across the plate.
Gabe Irwin of S-E led the top of the fourth with a double on a fly ball to left field. Back-to-back walks pushed Irwin up to third and teammate’s Cody Beckwith and Troy Fleming loaded the bases.
Ben Menard sent a fly ball to the outfield but a dropped ball by the right fielder lead to Irwin and Beckwith scoring two unearned runs and tied the game up at 2-2.
Later in the inning, Alex Kober sent a screaming liner to right field, sending Fleming in from third for the 3-2 lead. Menard made it 4-2 in the same at-bat as he scored from second on the Bobcats’ attempt for the play at the plate.
Both the bottom of the fourth and top of the fifth ended with no runs scored by either team, keeping the score at 4-2.
That was until Hyzer sent a deep fly ball to right field for a two-run home run, scoring Drown as well.
The next batter up to the plate was Palmatier and it was almost like it was replay as he sent a rocket to right field, giving B-G the lead back in the bottom of the fifth with his solo homer.
The Bobcats scored another three runs one inning later. Ives got the rally started when he sent a fly ball to centerfield for a double, sending Haiden Burns and Trevor Ross in for the score.
Eyzer stepped up to the plate for his at-bat and drilled the ball to centerfield, scoring Ives from second base.
The Marauders played small ball with their last trip to the plate, starting the inning off with a Kober single to left field. Noah Posson reached base with an error, advancing Kober to third on the play.
Ron Demello hit a sacrifice bunt to the pitcher, forcing B-G’s ives to make a decision. Throwing the ball to first to get Demello out, Kober scored on the play to cut the lead down to two runs.
Irwin smacked a sacrifice fly to right field on the next play and scored Posson from third.
With two outs, Beckwith drew a walk and Fleming hit a single that stayed in the infield to give S-E two runners on the base paths but Menard went down swinging for the final out of the game.
Sherburne-Earlville’s Kober led the team at the plate with two hits in two at-bats while Irwin had a double for his lone hit as the Marauders racked up six hits as a team.
Holding their opponent to the six hits were Palmatier, Ives and Hyzer as they split time on the mound. Palmatier got the start and went three innings, allowing two hits and three earned runs while ringing up two S-E batters.
Ives took the rubber for the next three and a third innings, striking out three while giving up three hits. Ezyer came on to close out the game for the last two outs and struck out one with one allowed hit.
The Bobcats finished the game with nine hits as Hyzer and Palmatier led the offense with two hits and three RBIs each.
Menard started the game on the hill for S-E, tossing five innings. He allowed five hits and three earned runs while striking out five B-G players. Fleming came in for the sixth and gave up four hits and two runs while striking out one.
Bainbridge-Guilford (1-0) travels to Sidney Tuesday afternoon for a 4:30 p.m. game. Sherburne-Earlville (0-1) will host Canastota the same day at 4:30 p.m.
Bainbridge-Guilford 7, Sherburne-Earlville 6
S-E 0 0 0 4 0 0 2 – 6 6 6
B-G 0 0 2 0 3 2 x – 7 9 3
2B: (S-E) Irwin; (B-G) Ives, Burns, Hyzer
HR: (B-G) Hyzer and Palmatier