ALBANY – The top-ranked Baconton Charter Blazers pushed their winning streak to 10 games Friday afternoon, but it wasn’t without a nail-biting finish. The Blazers edged out the Deerfield-Windsor Knights 5-4 at Addison Field, improving to 21-1 on the season.
Ranked No. 1 in Class A Division II according to MaxPreps, the Blazers seemed poised to cruise to victory after a clutch sixth-inning blast, but Deerfield-Windsor had other plans.A Game-Changing Swing
The Blazers led 2-1 heading into the sixth inning when Grayson White and Hudson Coronati opened with back-to-back singles. Sensing trouble, Knights Head Coach Kyle Keen made a change on the mound, bringing in West Rushton to relieve starter Lane Sceals.
But Rushton barely had time to settle in. On just his second pitch, Baconton Charter’s Kayden Logue unleashed a towering three-run homer over the left-field fence, giving the Blazers a 5-1 cushion and sending the Baconton dugout into a frenzy.The Knights’ Comeback Attempt
Deerfield-Windsor refused to fold, though. They scraped one run back in the fifth when David Hutchins scored on a balk, but it was the seventh inning that really brought the drama.
With their backs against the wall, Boyd Pollock, Lan Wiggins, and Sceals led off the seventh with consecutive singles, suddenly loading the bases with no outs. Hutchins followed with a shot to left, scoring two runs and leaving Sceals just 90 feet from tying the game.
However, the aggressive baserunning backfired as Hutchins was thrown out trying to stretch his single into a double. A ground ball to third by Quinton Peterson kept Sceals stranded at third, bringing up Gage Tomlinson as the Knights’ last hope.The Final Showdown
Blazers’ reliever Daniel Cruz found himself in a tight spot, and the pressure seemed to get to him as his first three pitches to Tomlinson missed the zone. The crowd at Addison Field held its breath. Then, Cruz fired a strike down the middle, and Tomlinson swung through it. One more pitch zipped past his bat, and with the count full, Cruz unleashed a heater that Tomlinson couldn’t catch up to, sealing the Blazers’ victory.
Coronati took the win on the mound for Baconton, allowing just one run and no hits while striking out eight despite five walks. Cruz, who earned the save, pitched two innings, giving up three runs on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
Sceals took the loss for Deerfield-Windsor, giving up six hits and four earned runs over five innings with one walk.
The Blazers’ dramatic win keeps their momentum rolling as they continue to prove why they’re the top-ranked team in their class.
