The Bearcats showed up Friday afternoon hot off the heels of a 6-5 win over R.F. Munroe last Thursday, but the solid scoring didn’t follow them to their doubleheader against Harris County Friday.
Tate Lambert pitched six innings and only allowed two runs in the Bearcats’ 2-0 loss to the Tigers. Lambert struck out eight players in game one.
In the sixth inning, Tiger Tyler Maley brought home the go-ahead run to give Harris County the lead in the sixth inning. Dillon Rodgers singled to get on base in the sixth. He then went from first to second on a groundout by Kurt Ornowski. Tyler racked up two RBIs on two hits for the Tigers.
Tiger pitcher Casey Cobb struck out five Bearcats and gave up only four hits over five shutout innings.
“We struggled with guys on base in the first game,” Bearcats coach Brian McCorkle said. “Pitching was good, defense was good, but we just didn’t score.”
In game two, the Bearcats hit the ground running when Blake Merchant hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Grant McDonald and put the score at 1-0.
Bainbridge pitcher Tyler Braswell went the next four innings without allowing single run for the Tigers.
In the top of the fifth inning, Harris County rallied and went ahead 2-1, driving in runs on back-to-back at-bats.
Bainbridge jumped right back ahead in the bottom of the fifth inning with Lambert driving in Ben Day on a triple and Lambert scoring on a single by Merchant, putting the score at 3-2.
Harris County went ahead by five runs in the top of the seventh with Bearcat Staton Long on the mound. The runs piled on thanks to an error, a groundout by Tyler Maley, and an RBI single by Tiger Kurt Ornowski.
“They hit it in the seventh inning,” McCorkle said. “(Long) had been good for us every time he pitched, but this happens from time to time. We just couldn’t close them out. We missed too many opportunities to drive in runs earlier in the game.”
The Bearcats couldn’t respond in the bottom of the seventh and the game ended on a double play with Merchant tagged out at first and Lambert out at second.
Ornowski and Hunter Morgan, who combined for six hits and three RBIs, were the Tigers’ spark. Ornowski got a hit in each of his three at bats. He singled in the third, fourth, and seventh innings.
“We’ve been playing awfully well,” McCorkle said. “We just couldn’t find any wins behind it.”
Tuesday, Bainbridge traveled to Dothan High School to take on the Tigers, a team they had defeated 5-1 at a tournament earlier in the season.