After winning the first two games of the season, the Batavia baseball squad was handed its first loss of the season in an emphatic fashion, losing to Honeoye Falls-Lima 15-2 on Thursday afternoon.
Twenty-four hours later, the Blue Devils got back on track, beating up on Akron, 15-8.
“I thought it was a good comeback win for us,” said Batavia Head Coach Rick Saunders. “We got lit up pretty good yesterday by a good HF-L team. Today we came out and jumped out on top and got those three runs in the first.”
Batavia opened up the game with three runs on three hits in the bottom of the first inning on a bases-clearing hit by Zeke Lynn.
The Tigers would battle back, loading the bases with one out in the second inning.
Akron would score on a fielder’s choice by D.J. Carlson, then on a passed ball, and they then tied it up on a RBI single by Zach Pfentner.
Quinten Weis would settle down after that, pitching two more scoreless innings and allowing just one more hit before Greg Mruczek relieved him.
“He was a little wild to start the game,” Saunders said of Weis. “I thought he settled down the rest of the game and he threw well that last two innings he was in the game.”
The Blue Devils regained the lead in the third after Nick Bauer was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Steve Borowczyk appeared to get himself out of the jam, ending the inning with the bases loaded and just one run allowed, but it was not to be.
Batavia exploded for four runs on four hits in the bottom of the fourth inning to extend the lead to 8-3.
Luke McComb was walked with the bases loaded, followed by an RBI single from Rich Francis before Bauer drove in two runs with a double to right field.
Akron appeared to make a bit of a comeback in the top of the fifth, getting two runs off of Mruczek (helped by a few defensive miscues), but he settled down to strike out the side in the sixth.
“I thought he threw the ball real well,” Saunders said of Mruczek. “I think our defense let him down a little bit. That happens, these are high school kids. If we played tight defense like we did in the first three games, we probably only would have let up a few runs.”
The Blue Devils' batters went to work in the bottom of the frame to put the game out of reach as they sent seven runners across home plate, including a two-run single from senior reserve Pat Wrobel.
The Tigers got three runs in the seventh, but it wasn’t enough to get close.
“The biggest difference between yesterday and today was that we hit better,” Saunders said. “We got the bases-clearing hit by Lynn and that was clutch for us today.”
Lynn finished the game 2-for-5 with four RBIs, while Bauer went 1-for-4 with four RBIs. As a team, Batavia combined for 14 hits on the game.
Weis picked up the win for the Devils, allowing three runs on three hits in four innings pitched.
Borowczyk took the loss for Akron, allowing eight runs in six innings pitched.
Batavia improves to 3-1 on the season, and next travel to Aquinas on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
