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The Bearcats scored 15 unanswered runs to come back from a five-point deficit and beat Hardaway 15-5 in the first game of their three-game region series.

Late-game scoring has been a common theme for Bainbridge this season. Last week against Westover, the Bearcats scored 16 runs in the sixth inning to rally from a 9-3 deficit and win the game. In the first six games of the season, they scored more than 90% of their runs in the fifth inning or later.

“We’ve been doing it all year,” said Bearcats’ head coach Donnie Coxwell. “We get behind, and then we battle back. They never get down on themselves.”

1st inning 

It was all Hardaway to start. The Hawks opened the game with five unanswered runs through two and a half innings. 

Bainbridge fired back with 15 unanswered runs of their own. They tied it up in the third inning and ran away with the score through the rest of the game. 

3rd inning 5-5

Five runners found home for the Bearcats in the third inning. Drew Clayton scored first off a ground ball from Nate Cannon. Cannon scored three at-bats later courtesy of a Brooks Hines ground ball. 

Bowen Smith scored the Bearcats’ third run during the next at-bat thanks to a Graham Beckham ground ball. Amarion Donaldson dinged a line-drive double on the next at-bat, sending Daniel Reynolds and Brennan Enfinger home and tying the game at 5-5

4th inning 6-5

Clayton tacked on another run in the fourth inning to give the Bearcats a 6-5 lead.

5th inning 12-5

Bainbridge got home six more times in the fifth inning. Reynolds opened the scoring by stealing home from third base on a wild pitch. Enfinger scored on the next at-bat off a Clayton pop-fly single. 

Two more runners scored two at-bats later. Clayton scored his third run, and Luke Griffin found home for the first time, courtesy of a Cannon ground ball. 

Pitching mistakes from Hardaway sent two Bearcats home two at-bats later. Cannon and Smith both scored off balks from the Hawk’s pitcher, making the score 12-5.

6th inning 15-5

The Bearcats finished the job in the sixth inning by gaining a 10-point lead, triggering the mercy rule and ending the game. Reynolds scored his third run of the game off a Preston Hutto ground out. Enfinger scored on the next at-bat courtesy of a Griffin line-drive double. Griffin put the nail in the coffin four at-bats later when the Hardaway pitcher hit Smith at the plate and sent Griffin home from third.

Coxwell said his players’ resilience is the reason the team is able to make their comebacks. 

“It’s not like my coaches are doing any magical coaching down by five,” Coxwell said. “It’s [the players], they just don’t panic… they don’t give up.”

The win pushes the Bearcats to a 5-6 record on the season. They take on Hardaway next in a doubleheader on Thursday, March 14. The first game starts at 4 p.m. with the second to follow.