Pitt edges L-E
Leopards’ struggles continue in 5-3 loss to Pirates
Liberty-Eylau’s skid in District 14-4A baseball continued, dropping a 5-3 loss to Pittsburg on Friday.
The lead changed three times in the game—twice in the second inning—and the Leopards to get much offense going against Pirate right-hander Brett McGee after the third inning at Leopard Field.
McGee needed 102 pitches to go the distance, striking out 11, walking one and allowing seven hits— two over the final four frames. Of the three runs allowed, two were earned.
Rory Baugus was the hard-luck loser on the mound for Liberty-Eylau. The senior southpaw pitched a complete game, giving up six hits and was charged with five runs, just two earned. The Leopards committed four errors behind Baugus, leading to three unearned runs.
An error led to the Pirates’ first run on a sacrifice bunt, and the second runner was awarded home after the umpires ruled a fake tag was applied at third base.
The Leopards, who struck out three times in the first inning, got going against McGee in the second. Triston Brooks beat out an infield hit and advanced to second on a throwing error.
“The bunt we didn’t field early killed us, and we had some bad luck with the (batted) ball that would’ve been an out,” Liberty-Eylau coach Zach Fowler said. “Stuff like that happens; that’s baseball, and we’ll move on from it. But we didn’t respond well enough at the plate, striking out 11 times, swinging and missing a lot, that’s been our Achilles’ heel all year. We’re not going to be a playoff team until we fix it.”
A wild pitch preceded a walk to
put runners on the corners. A stalled steal attempt drew a throw to second, sending the runner back to first, but the ball ended up in shallow center. Brooks scored easily on the error.
Jacoby Ross singled to left, and Marzavian Riles and Ross pulled a double steal to move to third and second, respectively. Riles was wildpitched home, and Ross came in on Bryan Moore’s 2-out single to left, giving Liberty-Eylau (9-14, 2-5) the lead.
In the third, Cutter Webb and Brooks lined singles to left, but a double play ended the threat of any more damage.
Pitt (17-8, 2-5) came up with a rally in the fourth to regain the lead. Chris Garcia grounded a single to center, and Jace Wood had an infield hit. With two outs and on an 0-2 count, Dakota Torrey doubled into left-center to drive in both runs. Derrick McCellan doubled in the seventh for the Pirates, and he scored on a 2-out error for the final tally.
Garcia and Wood had two hits each for Pittsburg, and Torrey and McCellan had a double each, Torrey adding 2 RBI.
Brooks and Bryan Moore were both 2 for 3 to lead the Leopards, who play at Pleasant Grove Tuesday.