Sports
Kennedy Bats its Way Back, but Bruins Hold on For Win
After tying the game 7-7 in the top of the sixth, the Cougars gave up two runs to Baldwin in the bottom of the inning and lost yesterday, 9-7.
The Kennedy Cougars fell behind 6-0 after two innings yesterday at Baldwin High School, but managed to claw their way back into the game and tie it at seven in the top of the sixth.
Baldwin pushed two more runs across the plate in the bottom of the inning, however, and the Cougars lost to Baldwin, 9-7.
With nobody out in the bottom of the sixth, a double steal led to an intentional walk to give Kennedy a force-out at any base. Matt Garber, who had just been brought in to pitch, struck out the next batter, and got the next one to line out to the shortstop.
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But then Baldwin's next batter Tommy Kelleher hit an RBI infield single, which was the deciding run in this game.
"[That] one was a bleeder right between the shortstop and the third baseman," Kennedy coach Eric Passman said. "That's all they needed. There's nothing you can do about that. [Garber] pitched very well."
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The Cougars starting pitcher was their lefty ace, Kevin Archbold. Unfortunately for Kennedy, he didn't seem to have his usual stuff. When the Bruins got some men on base in the first inning, they began to play small ball, and it paid off, giving them a 4-0 lead going into the second.
"We knew we had some good batters, and we knew we had some kids that could put a bunt down in the situation," Baldwin coach Frank Esposito said. "During Saturday's practice we talked about what we were going to do. We knew we needed a couple of runs against [Archbold]."
Even though they were behind big going into the third inning, and their ace pitcher was already knocked out of the game, the Cougars kept fighting. They were able to tie the game in the top of the sixth with help from Justin Harrison, Jordan Leopold, and Dan Loiacono, who all hit homers in the game.
Passman is happy that his team showed resilience, but upset with some mental lapses it displayed.
"Coming back is very encouraging," Passman said, "but to sleepwalk for five innings with errors and bad base running is very discouraging."
The Cougars will look for some revenge against Baldwin today when they host the Bruins with a 4:30 p.m. first pitch.
