After a nail-biter of a 3-2 victory on Monday, the Cambridge varsity jumped out to an early lead and held on to defeat the Jackets 8-1 in a game held at Sprayberry HS Wednesday afternoon, April 6th. Solid pitching, timely hitting and flawless defense proved too much for the home team this game as the visitors clinched the series in the final week of region play.
Jon Mullis toed the mound for the Bears and he continued his run of outstanding performances. Unlike the previous game, the Bears offense struck first in support of their pitcher. Leadoff hitter Davis Dasher walked to start the game. Brett Hawkins lined a single to center that moved Dasher to third as Hawkins took second on the throw. Senior Pete Gottschalk grounded to second to plate Dasher and Conner Young reached on error by the shortstop to plate Hawkins and push the score to 2-0. A Bradley Wiedman walk and Luke Foote single eventually led to runners at second and third where both scored on another error by the shortstop from a ball off the bat of Hayden Onorato.
Up 4-0, the Bears would push another run across in the second on a walk by Dasher who eventually scored on a wild pitch. In the third, a Foote single and Onorato double put two runners in scoring position. Cameron Moore drove in the sixth run with a sacrifice fly to right. Sprayberry pushed across a run in the fifth to make the score 6-1, but that was as close as they would get. Cambridge scored two more in the seventh. In his first varsity at bat, Teddy Egan pushed a ground ball past the third baseman to drive in Conner Young who had previously singled. Wiedman later scored on a throwing error by the catcher to make the final score 8-1.
Mullis went six innings, earning his sixth win on the season. He allowed one earned run on four hits with six strikeouts and four walks. Niko Kourtis pitched a perfect seventh inning. The offense saw contributions up and down the lineup. Dasher and Wiedman each scored twice. Luke Foote had a pair of singles and Hayden Onorato had the game's only extra base hit, a double in the third.
The Bears stand at 14-3 in region play and finish the region schedule with a home game Friday afternoon, April 8th versus Sprayberry. Game time is now 2:00 PM.
