The Dallas College Brookhaven Campus men’s baseball team battled in a game that eventually got out of hand against the Eastfield Campus Harvester Bees. The home game on April 11 ended in a 12-3 loss for the Bears.
At the top of the first inning the Bears pitcher Slayed Berry took the mound. The Harvester Bees created chances to reach third base but were unable to score a run. The Bears followed suit and earned three quick outs to end the inning. The score was tied at zero.
The Harvester Bees’ outfielder JJ Bush put the first points of the game on the board with a home run. The Bears landed some hits when at bat, but they could not make it to home plate which saw them ending the second inning scoreless. The score stayed the same going into the start of the fifth inning.
“It’s just execution and understanding where we have runners and what we need to do at the plate in those times,” Shaquille Thomas, head coach of the Bears, said after the game. “Maybe putting a ball on the ground to drive a run in or maybe bunt a run in to try and change up the momentum.”
In the top of the fifth inning, the Harvester Bees capitalized on a few of the Bears’ mistakes to see Bees’ outfielder Aubrey Whitehead reach third base. A hit ball from the Harvester Bees escaped the Bears outfielder and led to two runs to increase the Harvester Bees score. The Harvester Bees led 3-0 at the end of the fifth inning.
At the start of the sixth inning, the Harvester Bees continued to add to their score, batting in four more runs. The Bears were able to add their first run of the game – a home run from outfielder Caden Roeschen. The Bears could not keep up the momentum, ending the inning down six runs. The Harvester Bees led 7-1.
After the game Roeschen said: “Our biggest takeaway was our swings. We were under the ball a lot trying to do damage when we should have just shortened up and got the ball in play.”
In the seventh inning, the Harvester Bees scored once more, increasing their lead to 8-1. With the bases loaded Bears, catcher Dalton Stanley and infielder Bo Dinscore connected on a double play to hold the Bees from scoring. After a series of plays by the Bears, infielder Ray Jaramillo reached third base and outfielder Landon Kerkmaz was on first base. Jaramillo ran to home plate when outfielder Mason Gilliam hit a ball allowing him to reach first base and Kerkmaz to make it to third base. The Bears were unable to score, ending the seventh inning 8-2 with the Harvester Bees in the lead.
At the top of the eighth inning, the Harvester Bees increased their score to 10-2 with two more runs. At bat, Roeschen hit a ball, ran to first base and eventually scored on a hit from Dinscore that gave them a run but also an out with Dinscore tagged out. A double play by the Harvester Bees ended the inning with the Bees in the lead 10-3.
The Harvester Bees added two more runs in the ninth inning. The Bears could not score in the inning, ending the game. The final score was 12-3.
The Bears played two more games against the Harvester Bees in the next few days. With the Bears having to play consecutive games they shook off the loss and prepared for the next day to play once again.
“We played three games back-to-back about two weeks ago and had a sweep, I think we should be fine,” Roeschen said.
The Bears played the Harvester Bees away on April 12 and won 14-7, then both teams played once more an away game for the Bears, which ended in a close 10-9 defeat.
The Bears currently sit with a 19-21 overall record and for the season. With the season ending soon, the Bears will have to close out games and go on a winning streak to ensure the season ends over 500%.
“I want those guys to understand that in the season of baseball it’s always going to be long, you’re going to have your ups and downs,” Thomas said. “Those are the kind of things that are always going to happen. But the best teams are the ones that can bounce back from the lows and get back on track. And that’s where we need to be and I told these guys from the beginning of the year, I didn’t want to be the best team in January through February. I wanted to be the best team at the end of the season.”
The Bears play Dallas College Mountain View on May 8, an away game for the Bears, with two more home games against Mountain View on May 10 and May 11 to end the season.
