It was a long day for the Bruins in a doubleheader against Toccoa Falls. In the first game of the day, Joshua Legnard found himself in a pitchers duel with the Screaming Eagles. The two teams were locked until a homerun, with two runners on, in the ninth inning gave the Screaming Eagles the 3-0 lead for the win. The second game was much more exciting, but a late rally by the Bruins would come up short in a 15-11 loss.
"We continue to see growth in some areas and struggles in other," started Head Coach Brent Casteel. "It's all part of the process, but I'm proud of the effort they're giving!"
Joshua Legnard received the nod to start on the mound today for the Bruins. He pitched another outstanding game with eight innings pitched allowing only two hits with zero runs to be scored. He finished with another 10 strikeouts from 28 batters faced. The offense, though it struggled, still finished the day with nine hits and drew two walks, but weren't able to convert any to runs.
To get things started in the first inning, the Screaming Eagles wasted no time getting on base, but a timely double play ended the inning before any damage could be done. With the Bruins up to bat, only Conley Burk made his way onto the basepaths as he doubled. In the second inning, Legnard found his first two strikeouts of the day after the first batter grounded out. The Bruins got another couple of guys onto the bags, but were left stranded at first and second base.
Legnard picked up several more strikeouts in the third and fourth innings while the Bruins offense loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth, but once again were shut down by the Screaming Eagles pitching. Evan Walker singled in the fifth and Cody Kirkpatrick singled in the sixth, but nothing more would advance them as they were stranded. Four different Bruins made it on base in the seventh inning, but none were able to advance past second base.
As the two teams headed into extra innings locked at 0-0, the Screaming Eagles came within 90 feet of breaking the tie, but some excellent defense allowed the Bruins their own chance to take the game. Pablo Austin and Sam Gonzalez both singled, but they weren't able to go any further and the game would go into the ninth inning. Ryan Pierce replaced Legnard for the inning and it started off promising as they started with a groundout, but a single, double, and homerun on back to back to back batters put the Screaming Eagles up 3-0. In three final at bats, the Bruins finished with two groundouts and a strikeout.
In the second game of the day, Mack Ritter started for the Bruins. Both teams right away got themselves on the scoreboard in the first inning as the Bruins lead 4-1. Riley Ramsey started off the day with a triple and then came home when Evan Walker followed him with a single. Conley Burk was walked to advance Walker to second. With one out, Pablo Austin doubled scoring Walker and advancing Burk to third. Then with two outs, Sam Gonzalez reached first on an error from the second baseman which scored both Burk and Austin for the 4-1 lead.
The Bruins looked to score again in the bottom of the second finding two more guys on base, but couldn't convert them to runs as they headed into the third inning. The Screaming Eagles managed to convert a run to cut the Bruins lead down to 4-2, before the end of the inning. Both teams added a run in the fourth to go up 5-3.
The top of the fifth inning spelled trouble for the Bruins as the Screaming Eagles scored 10 runs to take a 13-5 lead. In response, the Bruins loaded the bases, but again were shut down before they could take a cut at the Screaming Eagles lead. Both teams were kept quiet in the sixth with no additional runs allowed to score.
In the top of the ninth, the Screaming Eagles added two more runs to extend their lead to 15-5. Chad Bayne got the rally started for the Bruins with a walk while Kyle Prouse followed with a single. David Twiddy singled to load the bases and then Conley Burk singled to get himself an rbi and keep the bases loaded. Kam Lance reached first on an error by the short stop which scored two more runs. With runners at the corners, Pablo Austin singled and another error by the Screaming Eagles allowed two more runs to score as Pablo made it all the way to third base. With two outs, Sam Gonzalez singled and sent Austin home to get their sixth run of the inning. After making it all way through the batting order, Chad Bayne was up again, but a strikeout would cut the Bruin's rally short at 15-11.
Up next, the Bruins will have a home game against Montreat College on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. at Conestee Park. Be sure to follow the Bruins all season long at
BJUbruins.com.
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