The Gladiators were victimized tonight by one of the sports world's oldest cliche's........don't let a team hang around.......as they took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the 7th, only to see the homestanding Bison tie things up with a two-run homer, then easily walk off with a 4-3 win in the eighth. The victory tightens up the early season race quite a bit and perhaps even puts Buffalo Gap back in contention for district honors, although they had only won one game prior to tonight.
Each team scratched in the first inning as Riverheads started things off with a pair of hits and two stolen bases to jump out to a 2-0 advantage. The Bison then got their own bats going in the bottom of the frame as they scored a single run and might have had more if not for an overly-aggressive base runner being tagged off third.
The score then stayed the same for the next three innings as starting pitchers Noah Canterbury for the Gap and Colton Kwiecinski for RHS were each keeping the other team's bats in check. The Bison fans momentarily thought they had caught up in the bottom of the fourth when freshman Kody Bright slammed a ball into deep left field. Some Bison fans were calling it a round-tripper the second it left the bat, but unfortunately for them, it bounced just inside the fence, holding him to a double. Kwiecinski then struck out the next batter to snuff out that threat.
The Big Red then added an insurance run in the top of the fifth when Aidan Miller beat out an infield blooper, stole second, and came around to score on Landon Lightner's hit to left-center. Ryan Farris then duplicated Lightner's hit, putting the two of them on second and third, giving RHS a chance to blow the game open. But they were stranded there as play moved to the sixth with RHS clinging to its 3-1 lead.
The Bison brought in younger brother Micah Canterbury in the sixth and he was every bit as effective at taming the Big Red batters over the next two innings. As play moved to the bottom of the 7th, the Gladiators recorded the first out but the Gap got the next man on board with a deep fly to left field and then Dylan Alphin (I believe?) brought the Bison fans to their feet with a long ball that just barely cleared the right field fence to tie the game.
Riverheads came close to reclaiming the lead in the top of the eighth as Brendan Fortune drew a one-out walk and made it all the way to third before being stranded. The Gladiators then brought in Ty Morris to relieve Kwiecinski and the Bison jumped on him in very short order, loading the bases with nobody out in what seemed like two minutes time. A sacrifice fly to left ended it as the Bison celebrated the "it ain't over till it's over" victory over their county rivals.
Two more compliments to pass out.......first of all Buffalo Gap has one of the better fields in this area in terms of fan access. There is not a bad seat in the house or a bad place to put your lawn chair and everybody has a clear view of the action. Secondly I just have to single out Riverheads first baseman Matthew Charles for his game tonight. It seemed that the Gladiators nailed a larger-than-usual number of runners at first and in some cases, the poor guy had to stretch further than any human should have to and contort himself into all kinds of crazy shapes. Hopefully he will get a good soak in somebody's hot tub this weekend!
Each team scratched in the first inning as Riverheads started things off with a pair of hits and two stolen bases to jump out to a 2-0 advantage. The Bison then got their own bats going in the bottom of the frame as they scored a single run and might have had more if not for an overly-aggressive base runner being tagged off third.
The score then stayed the same for the next three innings as starting pitchers Noah Canterbury for the Gap and Colton Kwiecinski for RHS were each keeping the other team's bats in check. The Bison fans momentarily thought they had caught up in the bottom of the fourth when freshman Kody Bright slammed a ball into deep left field. Some Bison fans were calling it a round-tripper the second it left the bat, but unfortunately for them, it bounced just inside the fence, holding him to a double. Kwiecinski then struck out the next batter to snuff out that threat.
The Big Red then added an insurance run in the top of the fifth when Aidan Miller beat out an infield blooper, stole second, and came around to score on Landon Lightner's hit to left-center. Ryan Farris then duplicated Lightner's hit, putting the two of them on second and third, giving RHS a chance to blow the game open. But they were stranded there as play moved to the sixth with RHS clinging to its 3-1 lead.
The Bison brought in younger brother Micah Canterbury in the sixth and he was every bit as effective at taming the Big Red batters over the next two innings. As play moved to the bottom of the 7th, the Gladiators recorded the first out but the Gap got the next man on board with a deep fly to left field and then Dylan Alphin (I believe?) brought the Bison fans to their feet with a long ball that just barely cleared the right field fence to tie the game.
Riverheads came close to reclaiming the lead in the top of the eighth as Brendan Fortune drew a one-out walk and made it all the way to third before being stranded. The Gladiators then brought in Ty Morris to relieve Kwiecinski and the Bison jumped on him in very short order, loading the bases with nobody out in what seemed like two minutes time. A sacrifice fly to left ended it as the Bison celebrated the "it ain't over till it's over" victory over their county rivals.
Two more compliments to pass out.......first of all Buffalo Gap has one of the better fields in this area in terms of fan access. There is not a bad seat in the house or a bad place to put your lawn chair and everybody has a clear view of the action. Secondly I just have to single out Riverheads first baseman Matthew Charles for his game tonight. It seemed that the Gladiators nailed a larger-than-usual number of runners at first and in some cases, the poor guy had to stretch further than any human should have to and contort himself into all kinds of crazy shapes. Hopefully he will get a good soak in somebody's hot tub this weekend!
