OF rallies to down WO-S, 6-5

Gabriel Pruett
The Orange Leader

WEST ORANGE Sat, May 17 2008

— It was easy to see the relief on the Orangefield Bobcats faces after Tuesday’s comeback win against the West Orange-Stark Mustangs.
The Bobcats rallied for a 6-5 victory, the first win for Orangefield in six tries. Orangefield’s last win had been a comeback win against WO-S at home, 11-10.
“It felt like forever,” Orangefield Coach Jeff Bennett said. “Things were just not going our way. Plus look at all the crazy things that have been going on in our district which is already a tough district. We are 4-8 and could easily be 8-4 or 1-11. It is a tough district and it is a credit to our kids for the way they have been battling.”
The Mustangs (2-10) went up 4-0 in the bottom of the third as Clayton Gearhart, who was 2-for-4, on a RBI single to left field.
The Bobcats then started to chip away at the lead in the fourth as catcher Jacob Felts reached on a single.
Felts quickly stole second and later came in to score on a ground out by Chase Angelle to make it 4-1.
fifth as Zach Peevey led off with a single off WO-S starter Bubba Gearhart.
Gearhart lasted all seven innings and gave up eight hits while walking just one batter and he struck out two batters.
Two batters later Orangefield’s Jace Statum blasted a two-run homer to right center to close the Bobcats to within 4-3.
“I was just driving to hit a line drive because Coach told me not to pop up,” Statum, who started on the mound, said. “I got a pitch where I wanted it and drove the ball.”
Statum worked all seven innings and struck out 14 batters while scattering five hits and four walks. He needed 128 pitches to collect the victory.
The Bobcats then went on top in the top of the sixth scoring three runs on two hits and were aided by two WO-S errors.
With two down, Clint Worthy reached second on an error and then moved to third on a single to right by Taylor Turley.
Zach Peevey then brought everyone home on a two-run triple.
Peevey made it 6-4 when he scored as Derrick Evans reached on another WO-S error.
“Finally in the sixth the baseball gods found us again,” Bennett said. “They dropped a ball in center and another one and I think that is really what has been missing. We finally got some breaks.”
It sure did not look like the game was going well early for the Bobcats as the Mustangs were out of the gates in a hurry.
Jordan Darnall led off the bottom of the first with a double to center and then scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly by Clayton Gearhart to make it 1-0.
The Mustangs then tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the second to lead 3-0 as Chase Adams and Cody Hodge led off with back-to-back walks.
Kendal Veitch plated Adams with a RBI single to center right before Darnall scored Hodge with a single to left.
Clayton Gearhart made it 4-0 in the bottom of the third after leading off with single to center.
Bubba Gearhart moved Clayton Gearhart over to second with a walk and then Adams came up with a RBI single to left to score Clayton Gearhart.
The Mustangs hit the road Friday with a trip to face the Bridge City Cardinals while the Bobcats will be at home to battle the Hardin-Jefferson Hawks.