BRUNSWICK – Alex Emery scored the winning run on Garrett Erb’s single in the seventh inning and also was the winning pitcher with two innings of scoreless relief Friday as Brunswick beat Mt. Ararat 7-6 in an Eastern Class A baseball game.

Emery reached on an error leading off the home seventh and stole second on a strikeout. After an intentional walk, the Dragons pulled off a double steal, with Emery safe on a bang-bang play at third.

“It was close and I was scared I might get rung up because (the umpire) was behind me,” said Emery. “But I guess he could see it and we got the good end of it.”

“We have good team speed,” said Brunswick Coach Bill Ridge, “and our plan was to challenge them on the bases all game. And in that situation, the worst that could happen was we’d still have a runner on second if Alex was thrown out.”

With the winning run on third, Eagles Coach Bruce Kingdon pulled the infield and outfield in, but Erb ripped a deep drive to left-center.

Erb wasn’t in the starting lineup because Ridge played his seniors for the Dragons’ final home game.

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“I just stayed focused on the game,” Erb said, “and when it was time to bat I just wanted to get the ball in the air to drive in the run. I thought it was out at first and was kind of bummed it wasn’t a home run, but we’ll take the win.”

After the teams traded runs in the first inning, Brunswick (9-6) scored two in the second on an error and base hits by Kyle Franklin and Alex Viola.

The Eagles (4-12) got one back in the third when Brandon Glass drove in Wes Hollingshead, who had four hits.

The Dragons stretched their lead to 6-2 in the fourth on singles by Bryan Dodge and Alex Lavoie, three stolen bases, a two-run single by Max Roberts and Trent Anderson’s RBI double.

But Mt. Ararat tied it in the fifth as the first five batters singled off Franklin, with Glass knocking in one run with his third hit, David Roux grounding a single just past third base for two more, and the final run coming in on a fielder’s choice.

“(Franklin) was making good pitches,” said Ridge, “but they hit it where we weren’t. This was a good win for us, the first time all year we faced some adversity and battled back.”

“It was another close, tough loss,” said Kingdon. “We battled, we just came up short. We had decent pitching and good defense. We hit the ball a bit today, but when you’ve been trying all year to stay above the Mendoza line (.200 batting average), it’s a struggle to score runs.”

 


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