By Caleb Adams

Leader Correspondent

WEST ORANGE — The Little Cypress-Mauriceville Bears took down the West Orange-Stark Mustangs in a final of 10-7 in District 22-4A action at Ronnie Anderson Park, in what was a long hitters duel Friday night.

With a huge third inning propelling them way ahead early, the Bears (16-5, 3-1) pitching wasn’t the best it could be in this game, so the bats picked up the slack and then some against the Mustangs (3-10-1, 0-4) .

Jordan Alexander had a huge hit in that explosive ending, putting a cap on it in fact, with a three-RBI hit to make the score 8-3 in the Bears favor.

WO-S was able to keep the score close late but the third inning was too much for the Mustangs to rally back.

The Bears struck first, taking advantage of an error by the Mustangs in the first inning. Leadoff man Alexander walked and stole second, Taylor Gilbert would draw a walk as well putting runners on second and first. Anthony Bandiero moved both runners up a base with a grounder. Ty Shugart hitone hard to third and it was too hot to handle and Alexander scored from third.

The Mustangs fired back with a flurry of hits and runs in the bottom of the first inning. Will Robles started the rally with a hard single, Justin Veich would double to center, putting both runners in scoring position. Jerron Terrell would take those ducks off the pond with a long double to right center, bouncing off the fence, scoring both runnersas the Mustangs grabbed a 2-1 lead.

Jacob Dominguez extended the Mustang lead with a hard single up the middle. Caleb Istre walked and stole second base to put himself in scoring position. Dominguez would hit a shot up the middle that would score Istre from second base. After two complete the Mustangs led 3-1.

LCM struck back in the top of the third in a huge way, going through the entire lineup during the top of the third inning. Ty Moreland would reach on an error by the Mustangs and steal second base. Gilbert would ground to second, but on a rushed throw Moreland scores off another error. Gilbert would steal third base to set up Shugart, who hit a hard single to left field to score Gilbert. The Bears would load the bases after that score. Brett Burrows wore a pitch and Austin Smith would also draw a walk in the next at bat to bring in two runs from walks.

Going through the whole lineup in the inning, Alexander would clear the bases after the two walks, bringing in three RBI’s on a long double to left center field. That would be the end of the rally, but what a rally it was. Bringing in seven runs in one inning put the Bears up 8-3 heading to the bottom of the third.

The Mustangs found more runs to try and make the comeback on the Bears. Istre would single to leadoff, Jay’zen Robinson moved him up to scoring position setting up Will Robles to drive in Istre from third with a grounder of his own. Dominguez would get hit by a pitch right before Robles’ hit, Veitch would drive him in thanks to a Bears error in the field. Those two runs brought the score to 8-5 in the Bears favor still, but the Mustangs were gaining ground heading into the fifth inning.

The Bears weren’t done scoring for the night, as they kicked it back up in the top of the sixth. Bandiero knocked a leadoff double setting up Hunter Perkins with a double of his own, bringing in the ninth run of the game.

That wouldn’t be all for the Bears in the sixth. Perkins would steal third base to setup the easy sac fly for Brett Burrows to follow up with, scoring the 10th run for the Bears.

WO-S was determined to make a comeback, and a triple by Jalen Thompson really helped that cause. Thompson smashed one to right center to drive in Veitch and Gipson who were on first and second from walks. That’s all the Mustangs would get, making the score 10-7 heading into the final inning.

 

LC-M will play host to Hamshire-Fannett Tuesday while the Mustangs visit Lumberton.