Coach Brian McCorkle’s Bainbridge High School Bearcats summer league baseball team defeated Tallahassee’s Leon High School Lions summer league team 8-1 in the second game of a doubleheader Tuesday at the Bearcat Diamond after playing to a 2-2 six-inning tie in the first game.
Shortstop Keith Lytle helped ignite a two-run first game rally with a long double to left center in the second inning. Lyle and Grayson Heard, who was a courtesy runner for catcher Noah Bryant, scored the runs. Bryant singled to open the rally.
Lyle also had a two-run triple in the third inning of the second game that helped the Bearcats build a 3-0 second game lead.
The Bearcats added two more runs in the fifth inning to increase their lead to 5-0.
A key play in the inning was a run scoring squeeze bunt by center fielder Caleb Bouttwell.
A three-run rally in the bottom of the fifth inning sealed the victory.
The big blow in the inning was a long two-run double to center by first baseman Russell Wheeler.
While Wheeler’s long blow was ruled a double, it apparently just missed clearing the yellow line for a home run.
Bearcats coach Brian McCorkle said he is pleased with the progress his team is making this summer.
“We are doing a lot of things well,” he said. “We have hit well, run the bases well, moved runners along well, bunted well, played strong solid defense and got solid pitching efforts.”
“In the summer, it is important that we do a good job of executing the fundamentals and that is what we are doing,” McCorkle continued. “The more we work on fundamentals in the summer the better prepared we will be for the regular season next spring.”
The summer league Bearcats will return to action Monday when they host the Valdosta High School Wildcats summer league team at 6 p.m.