The Dallas College Brookhaven Campus men’s baseball team fought in a thrilling game but could not complete the comeback against the North Lake Blazers. The home game on March 20 ended in a 10-9 loss for the Bears.
At the top of the first inning the Bears pitcher Slayed Berry took the mound. The Blazers were able to get good early hits, which gave them an early 3-0 lead over the Bears. After two quick outs from the Bears, infielder Bo Dinscore hit a highflyer homerun which gave the Bears their first points. One more ball hit high down the middle resulted in an out and the end of the inning. The Blazers led the Bears 3-1.
“The biggest thing is not allowing one play to dictate the plays afterwards,” Shaquille Thomas, head baseball coach, said after the game. “An issue we have struggled with all year is giving away early runs.”
In the top of the second inning, after three quick outs from the Blazers, infielder Ray Jaramillo hit a low ball down the middle, allowing outfielder Landon Kerkmaz to make it to home plate and increased the Bears score 3-2. The Bears could not tie the ball game heading into the third inning.
The Bears held the Blazers to no runs in the top of the third inning. The Bears started off strong with a walk from infielder Isaiah Nava to first base after four balls thrown by the Blazers. Dinscore up next to the bat, hit the ball, which escaped the Blazers third baseman and allowed Nava to reach home plate and tie the game. Soon after, outfielder Caden Roeschen, hit a crucial home run which gave the Bears a 5-3 lead as he and Dinscore reached home plate.
In the top of the sixth inning, the Blazers hit a home run, which gave them two runs to tie the game.
Afterward, the Blazers took the lead 6-5 before the end of the top of the inning. The Bears were not able to tie the game before the end of the inning.
In the seventh inning, the Blazers added one more run to their score, which increased their lead to 7-5.
The Bears held without a run for the past four innings; they needed to rally together to complete a comeback.
“We need to be more disciplined at the plate and maximize our opportunities with balls in the strike zone,” Thomas said. “We swung at a lot of pitches in the dirt today, whereas we took a lot of slow pitches that were strikes.”
Top of the eighth inning, the Blazers continued to apply pressure to the Bears with two more runs, which increased their lead to 10-5 at the end of the top of the inning.
The Bears received some life with infielders Alex Rangel and George Sheppard’s runs, which cut the Blazers lead to 10-7.
Top of the ninth inning, the Bears held the Blazers to no runs, needing three runs the Bears continued to complete the comeback. Infielder Brooks Farrell hit the ball making it to first base.
With Farrell at first base, outfielder Mason Gilliam stepped up to the plate, and hit a crucial home run to cut the Blazers lead to 10-9. While the Bears were in good position to tie the game, they could not complete the comeback. The final score was 10-9.
After the game Gilliam said: “We need to attack early, instead of waiting till the last minute. We started hot but as the game continued, we died down not in the dugout, but more of us as individuals.”
The Brookhaven Bears played the North Lake Blazers away on March 22 winning 17-11. Both teams played once more March 23 at North Lake, which resulted in a close victory 9-7 for the Bears.
As of the publication date, the Bears hold a 12-16 overall record and a 3-6 conference record.
The Bears play Dallas College Mountain View on April 3, a home game for the Bears, with two more away games against Mountain View on April 5 and April 6.
