Sir Francis Drake scored three times in the fifth inning to come from behind and defeat Branson on the road in a late season MCAL matchup.
Drake’s three run fifth inning began with Jensen Yamane reaching on a fielder’s choice and stealing second. A Kevin Miles single to left then put runners on the corners. Nick Roth then doubled to right, which scored Yamane and put runners on second and third.
JT Balano followed and hit a bomb off the wall, easily scoring the two runners and putting Balano on third with a triple. This brought Drake back from a 3-1 deficit and gave them a 4-3 lead.
Branson, however, came back in the bottom of the seventh to add a dramatic ending. With two men on and two men out, Branson launched a single to right. Ritch, who had been on second, rounded third and headed for home to tie the game. However, a perfect throw by rightfielder Harvey Hunerberg and the tag by Balano ended the game.
Branson also had to come from behind earlier in the game, after Drake took an early lead. In the top of the second inning, Balano doubled to deep left off Bulls' pitcher Alec Ritch and scored a batter later when Owen Hamilton singled to right.
Team manager Rocky Clark spoke to what Balano offers the team with his bat.
“JT hits shots," Clark said. "He can absolutely barrel the ball and he showed that today with his effort. All three of his at bats were bombs and if not for getting robbed on one, he could’ve been three for three."
Branson took the lead in the bottom of the third by scrapping together three runs on just two hits. Spencer Smead reached on error. Then with one out, Kentaro Hirose walked on an at-bat that included a wild pitch, scoring Smead. After another walk to Ritch, there were runners on first and second, and a single by Marco Castillo scored one and put runners on the corners. Later, an Ethan Terrell single scored Ritch and pushed the lead to 3-1 in favor of the Bulls.
Randall Thornton pitched for Drake and gave up two earned runs in seven innings of work. Thornton held the Bulls to a .154 batting average and struck out four batters to three walks.
Alec Ritch started for Branson and gave up four runs in his efforts.
Drake improved to 14-10 on the season (11-7 MCAL) while Branson fell to 8-14 (6-12) in the final game of the regular season.
