By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
Sylvan Hills’ extended summer junior varsity baseball team was down two runs after 2 1/2 innings against Lake Hamilton on Wednesday, but the JV Bears tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the third inning, and reeled off three more in the fourth to beat the Wolves’ varsity team 5-2 at Mike Bromley Field in Sherwood.
The game was scoreless after an inning of play, but Lake Hamilton scored a run in the top of the second to lead 1-0, and the Wolves scored again in the third to lead 2-0. Sylvan Hills responded, though, in the bottom half of the inning.
Bears’ left fielder Connor Young led off the bottom of the third with a ground ball to shortstop. The ball was fielded cleanly, but the throw to first was low, and Young advanced to second base on the play.
Catcher Chaz Poppy reached on another error at shortstop two batters later, and Young moved to third on that play to put runners at the corners with one out. Connor Beeching flew out to right field the following at-bat, but the hit was deep enough to score Young from third and give the Bears their first run of the day.
Jason Neeley tied the game the next at-bat with a two-out single up the middle, making it 2-2 after three. Sylvan Hills righthander Ray Young took to the mound for the first time at the start of the fourth. He entered the game in relief of left hander Cole Miller, who threw the first three innings.
Ray Young and the Bears’ defense kept the Wolves off the board in the top of the fourth, and Sylvan Hills took its first lead in the bottom half of the inning with its most productive inning of the day.
Gage Taylor drew a one-out walk and stole second base with Jacob Galiano at the plate. Taylor then advanced to third on a passed ball, and scored the go-ahead run on a passed ball on ball four. Galiano alertly hustled to first base on the passed ball four, and took second while the Lake Hamilton catcher retrieved the ball.
Shortly after, Galiano stole third base before being driven home on a one-out single to center field off the bat of Payton Terry. Terry’s RBI made it 4-2 Bears. Terry stole second base before scoring on a one-out standup double to deep right center by Ray Young, which made the score 5-2.
Lake Hamilton’s lone base runner in the top of the fifth came via walk, and the Bears ended the game with a pair of 5-3 groundouts, sealing the win in five innings.
It was a good win over a Lake Hamilton team that consisted mostly of varsity players, but the JV Bears had five errors in the five-inning game, something that Sylvan Hills summer league coach Matt Presson wasn’t very pleased with.
“We started out slow and we gave them outs in the beginning,” said Presson. “In the second inning we had at least four outs we gave them. You can’t give teams extra outs. You’ve got to make the routine play. You’ve got two pitchers throwing their butts off. We’re just not making plays. We make those plays it’s 5-0.
“We started off slow with the bats. But, we came through when we needed to, so that was nice.”
With Wednesday’s win, the JV Bears improved their summer record to 5-0. Ray Young got the win on the mound. He struck out two, walked two and gave up no hits in his two innings of work. Miller also struck out two and walked two and allowed only two hits in his three innings on the hill.
Sylvan Hills totaled four hits Wednesday, with Neeley, Taylor, Terry and Ray Young accounting for those hits.
