Baseball: Bearcats battle back to best Brewer

The score of 3-2 may be something tattooed on the hearts of the Brewer baseball brass for the rest of this season, courtesy of baseball heroics from the Aledo Bearcats.

After taking down the Bears 3-2 on the road on March 12 in the first part of the teams’ scheduled home-and-home series, Aledo returned to its home field and won in a similar fashion. This time, the Bearcats used strong pitching while applying consistent offensive pressure to transform a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 victory to give Aledo a strong start to begin district play.

“Anytime you can come in and sweep someone, it means you have a tiebreaker over them (for playoff purposes),” Bearcats head coach Chad Barry said. “Starting off district with two wins over a good quality ball club gives us plenty of momentum. They are very well-coached and definitely showed us some things we need to work on during our off week, so we are going to go back to the drawing board, go to the batting cages and work even harder.”

Devin Miller got the start on the mound for Aledo and came out of the gates strong, retiring six of the first seven batters he faced, including three strikeouts. Bearcats catcher Lucas Nawrocki opened up the bottom of the second inning with a single on the first pitch he saw, and Blake Burdine singled to put runners on first and second after a flyout in the previous Aledo at-bat. Then, Dylan Duran singled to load the bases. Despite that, Aledo’s next two batters were retired to end the threat.

Miller’s command remained on the mound in the following frame as he collected two more strikeouts and forced a groundout in spite of a single. Aledo couldn’t strike first on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third, which allowed Brewer an opportunity it took advantage of as the Bears manufactured a run with well-executed small ball. Aledo threatened again in the bottom of the fourth but left a pair of runners on base.

The Bearcats then went to their bullpen in the fifth inning, managing to escape a bases-loaded jam after allowing another run by the Bears to score. The run came courtesy of Khyler Farris stealing home plate on a heads-up play that made the Bears’ 2-0 lead seem insurmountable. Despite that, the Bearcats knew they had more magic up their sleeves in this contest.

The Bearcats saw Luke Trager steal home during their latest road contest, which proved to be a difference maker. The sentiments rang true in the battle at home as Trager proved to be a catalyst once again.

Trager was the first to bat for Aledo in the fifth inning, and he was able to reach second base on an error in the outfield. His high-flying shot was not corralled in center field and the floodgates of momentum began to creak open.

“With runners in scoring position, I’m just trying to be a leadoff hitter and do my job in those situations,” Luke Gladchuk said. “We practice out here for hours every day, and wins like this will give both ourselves and the fans some confidence. It’s definitely going to give us confidence when we face our next opponent.”

Next, Gladchuk belted a huge RBI triple to left that both cut the deficit in half and put the tying run 90 feet away. Fireworks continued to boom for the team clad in orange and black as Brooks Burdine reached first base on another Brewer error to score the tying run and eventually advanced to third base on bad throws to first – and second – as the Bears’ pursuit of the speedy Burdine came up short. His efforts were rewarded on the next toss from the mound as he was able to get a jump on the wild pitch for the go-ahead run.

“When we caught a break and they made a mistake, we did a really good job of taking advantage of making them pay for it,” Barry said. “We were able to string together some good at-bats and hits to tie the game up. I think it was a passed ball that got us the winning run against them the other night, and we were able to do the same thing here. I hope that the players seeing how we can get guys on at the right time and apply pressure with consistency will show them that we can open the floodgates at any time.”

Nawrocki then got the call to take the mound to close the deal and complete the sweep, and he answered the bell for his team in a big way, finishing the final two innings on the mound with five strikeouts, two walks, a pick off at first and forced a groundout — all without allowing a hit. Additionally, the baserunner he allowed via a walk – Farris – was left 90 feet away from home plate once Aledo recorded the game’s final out.

The Bearcats are off this coming week before taking on Chisholm Trail in their next two-game district series. The first game will take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 1 at home against the Rangers.