Despite four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Bob Jones University Bruins fell short in Friday night's contest against Toccoa Falls College from Conestee Park in Greenville, South Carolina. With today's 10-8 result, the Bruins now sit at 6-20 overall this season and 4-9 in conference play.
"I saw a lot of fight in our team today," said Head Coach Brent Casteel. "Our guys made a lot of contact. We want hard ground balls and hard line drives as often as we can get them, but tonight they were just right at people. and we couldn't hit them where we needed them when we needed them."
Today marked the sixth meeting between the Bruins and Screaming Eagles this season with the Bruins entering today's contest 2-3 against Toccoa Falls.
Henry Wallach got the start on the mound for Bob Jones as the Bruins defense kept the Screaming Eagles off the board to start the game. As the Bruins came up to bat, they got off to a hot start. Riley Ramsey walked to open the bottom of the first and get his team on base. After a double play sent two Bruins back to the dugout, Kam Lance took his turn at bat. On the 2-1 count, he sailed the ball over the left field fence for a two RBI home run.
Toccoa Falls responded with a lead off homer of their own in the second to make the score 2-1.
In the bottom of the second, the Bruins added two more runs to the scoreboard. With the bases loaded, Evan Walker hit the ball right towards the shortstop. With the hit, Chad Bayne raced home. As the Screaming Eagles looked for the double play after the out at second base, a wild throw from second to first allowed Zay Brandt to beat the ball at home. He narrowly escaped the third out of the inning and put the Bruins ahead 4-1.
As the third inning rolled around, the Screaming Eagles put five runs on the board to overtake the Bruins. The 6-4 score held through the next few innings until Toccoa Falls tagged three more runs onto their total in the top of the sixth.
Down 10-4 heading into the bottom of the final inning of the contest, the Bruins began to battle. Ramsey opened the inning with a ground out to third base. David Twiddy came in to pinch hit for Walker, seeing his first action of the season. With the dugout cheering him on, Twiddy sailed the ball deep into left field, but it was caught for the second out of the inning. After Conley Burk walked to get on first, Lance was back with a deep shot to center field for an RBI double as Burk raced around the bases to add another run to the Bruins total. Patient from the plate, Pablo Austin waited for his pitch. It paid off as his shot nearly went out of the park, hitting the back fence for an RBI double. Cody Kirkpatrick then came in clutch with a two run homer to put the Bruins within two of Toccoa Falls. The battle for the walkoff win fell short as Sam Gonzalez's shot flied out to first to end the game.
After nine innings of play, the Bruins fell 10-8 to the Screaming Eagles.
The two programs are back in action at Conestee Park on Saturday for a doubleheader beginning at 12:30 p.m.
