BRIDGEPORT – The Buckhannon-Upshur Buccaneers couldn’t hold onto a late lead and wound up dropping an 8-6 decision to the Bridgeport Indians in their sectional opener Tuesday evening.
The Bucs led the Indians by a 6-5 margin heading into the bottom of the sixth inning but gave up three runs and suffered the two-run loss.
The Bucs struck first in the top of the first when Zach Calef-Boring led off the game with a single and crossed home on a ground out by Ian Donnen.
Bridgeport took a 4-1 lead after scoring four runs in the bottom of the first but the Bucs cut that lead in half in the top of the third when Landon Marple ripped a pitch over the left field fence for a solo home run.
The Bucs closed it to 4-3 in the top of the fourth when Brayden Hamer singled, stole second and scored on a single by Jaden Westfall.
The Bucs took their first lead in the top of the fifth with a three-run outburst.
Marple hit a one-run single that brought home Payton Bennett and he later scored on a passed ball and Donnen reached on an error and scored on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Snyder making it a 6-4 contest.
Bridgeport made it a 6-5 game in the bottom of the fifth when Phil Reed tripled and scored on a single by Sean Via.
The Indians took the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth getting a one-run single from Zach Rohrig, a sacrifice fly from Reed and a one-run double from Via.
The Bucs outhit Bridgeport by an 11-9 margin with Hamer leading the B-U offense with three hits while Marple drove in two runs.
Calef-Boring started the game for B-U and didn’t factor into the decision, going five innings and allowing five earned runs on seven hits while striking out two.
Clint Crites suffered the loss pitching 1/3 of an inning and allowing three earned runs on two hits.
The loss dropped the Bucs to 13-12 heading into Wednesday’s elimination game against the Preston Knights.
The boxscores:
Buckhannon-Upshur 101 130 0 – 6
Bridgeport 400 013 x – 8
E – Buckhannon-Upshur 1, Bridgeport 1. DP – Bridgeport 1. LoB – Buckhannon-Upshur 8, Bridgeport 7. 2B – Crites, Rohrig, Via. 3B – Reed 2, Baun. HR – Marple. Sac. – Bryant, Donnen, Rohrig, SF – Snyder, Reed, Blake. SB – Bennett, Marple, Rice, Baun.
Hitting
Buckhannon-Upshur – Zach Calef-Boring p-2b, 4 1 1 0; Payton Bennett cf, 4 1 2 0; Landon Marple ss, 3 2 2 2; Ian Donnen 2, 3 0 0 1; Clint Crites 3b-p, 4 0 1 0; Jevon Westfall 3b, 0 0 0 0; Ryan Snyder 1b, 3 0 0 0; Brayden Hamer 2b-3b, 3 1 3 0; Elijah Bryant rf, 3 0 0 0; Jaden Westfall lf, 2 0 2 1; Drahden Rice pr, 0 1 0 0; Tucker Burr p, 0 0 0 0; Jerin Westfall pr, 0 0 0 0 0. Totals 29 6 11 5.
Bridgeport – Zach Rohrig 3b, 3 2 3 1; Kasen Baun ss, 4 2 1 1; Phil Reed c, 3 1 2 2; Sean Via rf, 3 1 2 2; Ben Biafore lf, 4 0 0 0; Connor Blake dh, 1 0 0 1; Aiden Paulsen p, 2 0 0 0; Dom Peasack 1b, 2 0 1 1; Sam Romano pr, 0 0 0 0; Carson Currey 2b, 2 0 0 0; Ashton Curry cf, 2 0 0 0; Dylan Duvall 0 0 0 0; Trent Haines 0 2 0 0; Jacob Stavrakis 0 0 0 0; Braden Bastin 0 0 0 0. Totals 26 8 9 8.
Pitching
Buckhannon-Upshur – Calef-Boring: 5 innings, 7 hits, 5 runs, 5 earned runs, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts, 2 hit batsmen (Peasack, Currey); Crites: 1/3 of an inning, 2 hits, 3 runs, 3 earned runs, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts, 1 wild pitch; Burr: 2/3 of an inning, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 earned runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts.
Bridgeport – Stavrakis: 5 innings, 10 hits, 6 runs, 4 earned runs, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts; Paulsen: 2 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 earned runs, 2 walks, 0 strikeouts.
