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Two seniors continued their hot hitting and the Bees got a major contribution from a freshman to knock off Liverpool at home on Monday afternoon, 7-6.
Aiden Milburn and Braden Seeber have paced the hitting for the Bees since the first game and it continued on Monday, as they both had critical hits throughout the game.
On a cool April afternoon, the Bees traded blows with Liverpool but came out victorious on a walkoff single by Nate Georger, a freshman who was called up to varsity two games ago.
Liverpool took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, as starter Gavin Miller struggled with his command and walked four batters. He was able to get out of the inning with strikeouts to minimize the damage.
In the bottom half of the inning, Baldwinsville got one of the runs back as leadoff hitter Josh Leonard walked, moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on a single by Jacob Penafeather. After a strikeout, Seeber collected one of his four RBIs on the afternoon on a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Leonard. The Bees trailed 2-1.
Miller steadied the ship in the second and third innings, as the Bees prepared to pounce on offense.
In the bottom of the third, Penafeather blooped a single to lead off the inning and Milburn followed with a screaming line drive double over the centerfielder's head, which allowed Penafeather to score and tie the game. Seeber then drove a ball to the deepest part of the park, left center, where the ball bounced off the fence, another double, scoring Milburn. After a groundout and a strikeout, Seeber was able to score on a wild pitch, as the Bees took a 4-2 lead.
The lead was short-lived, however. After a hit-by-pitch and two walks, Liverpool's first baseman drove a double into the left center gap, scoring two and tying up the game, 4-4. Miller got the second out on a groundball to third baseman Reid Rachwal who threw home to nail the runner trying to score.
Junior Nico Wellman then entered the game for Miller and proceeded to induce a weak pop fly from Liverpool's best hitter, ending the inning with the score tied, 4-4.
After a scoreless bottom of the fourth, Wellman had a quick 1-2-3 inning, getting a line drive out and two groundouts to move the game to the bottom of the fifth.
In the bottom of the fifth, Milburn again got on base with a hard-hit single through the left side of the infield. On a 2-0 count and the Bees needing a run, Seeber clobbered a ball to deep right center, easily clearing the fence for a two-run homerun. The Bees led 6-4.
After getting out of the fifth inning, down 6-4, Liverpool fought back and after Wellman got two quick outs, a batter walked and then the next batter singled, putting a runner at third base. A wild pitch scored the runner from third and while the Bees argued that the ball had actually hit the batter, the Liverpool runner at second took off for third. Seeber threw to third, but overthrew the third baseman and the runner scored, tying the game 6-6.
The Bees got out of the sixth inning but failed to score in the bottom frame.
Rachwal came in in relief of Wellman and pitched a scoreless top of the seventh, with two groundballs to third and a lineout to Rachwal.
That set up the dramatic bottom of the seventh. With the sky getting dark (the game probably would not have proceeded past the inning because of the lack of light), the Bees stepped to the plate with an opportunity to end the game.
As he has done the last three games, Milburn delivered in a critical spot. Leading off the inning and with one strike, he reached for breaking pitch that hung slightly in the zone and ripped a double down the left field line. The Bees were in business.
Seeber walked to the plate but was promptly given a free pass, as Liverpool chose not to let him determine the outcome of the game, intentionally walking him. With no outs, up stepped sophomore Joey Gennario. Tasked with moving the runners up from first and second, Gennario executed a perfect sacrifice bunt down the third base line to move Milburn and Seeber up.
Rachwal was then intentionally walked. After a strikeout and with two outs, an unlikely star emerged in the dark sky. It was freshman Nate Georger, who had had good at-bats all game, reaching on an error and a single earlier in the game.
With bases loaded and the Bees needing a critical hit, Georger swung at a pitch and lifted the ball into right field. The right fielder made a mad dash for the ball, but it was useless. The ball fell well short of the right fielder and well beyond the infielders for a single. Milburn scored the winning run and the celebration was on, as the Bees swarmed over Georger. The Bees were victorious, 7-6, and continued their streak of winning games, now sitting at 3-0 on the season.
There was no shortage of heroes in this game. Georger was 2 for 3 and had the game-winning RBI. Wellman and Rachwal provided important innings in relief, with Rachwal earning the win in the game. Milburn continued his torrid hitting pace with three more hits, three runs, and an RBI; he is now hitting .833 (10-12). Seeber also dominated going 2 for 2, with a double and a homerun, two runs scored, and four RBIs, raising his average to .700 (7-10). Penafeather also collected two hits on the afternoon.
The Bees next play Liverpool on Tuesday afternoon at OCC at 5:00 pm.