Eleven hits weren’t enough for Bainbridge Bearcats Varsity as it lost a shootout, 13-10 in seven innings, in a scrimmage with Valdosta Thursday at Bainbridge.
“Offensively we were much better than I thought we’d be the first game of the season,” coach Brian McCorkle said. “Defensively, we played very uncharacteristic of ourselves.”
McCorkle said the team struggled to execute some things, such as bunting and running bases. They also made errors that he said they would have work on correcting over the next few practices.
Dustin Strickland racked up two RBIs on two hits for the Bearcats during the game. He singled in the third and sixth innings.
Valdosta’s David Posas, Daniel Tefft and Jacob McMillan combined for five hits and six RBIs.
Tyler Braswell was charged with the loss. He allowed six runs in one-third of an inning, walked three and struck out none.
The top of the second saw Valdosta take an early lead, 3-0. Valdosta’s rally started when Austin Lieupo singled. Kaleb Whitfield singled, scoring Seth Shuman. Valdosta then tacked on more runs when Lieupo and Whitfield scored on a two-run single by Posas.
Bainbridge scored one run in the second, sixth and seventh innings.
In the second inning, the Bearcats scored on an RBI single by Blake Merchant, bringing home Grant McDonald.
It didn’t take long for Bainbridge to respond to Valdosta’s increasing threat as they scored three more runs in the fifth, taking advantage of a groundout by Merchant and an error.
Valdosta went up for good in the sixth, scoring nine runs on four doubles, an error, and two singles.