Who says you can’t win ’em all? So far, Freeport’s baseball team has beaten every opponent to start the season.
The Yellowjackets remained undefeated Monday, scratching out a pair of runs in the ninth inning to topple Deer Lakes, 5-3, for their ninth consecutive victory.
Marco Wolfe’s RBI double scored winning pitcher Gage Blystone with the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth after Blystone laced a one-out double down the first-base line.
“We keep telling our guys to be the best version of ourselves every day,” Freeport coach Ed Carr said.
Even if the pressure is on?
“Guys sometimes play a little bit tight,” he said. “Instead of having that next-game approach, you can fall into a trap of trying not to lose.”
Freeport (9-0, 5-0 Section 3-3A) appeared headed for a potential first loss, despite jumping to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on freshman Ashton Bricker’s third home run.
The Yellowjackets stranded 14 runners and dodged several Deer Lakes rallies after the Lancers rallied to tie the score at 3-3 in the fourth on an unearned run.
“I don’t like the result, but it was a good game,” Deer Lakes coach Chris Snyder said. “They’re a good team. They’ve been a rival of ours for a very long time, and we usually play each other very tight. We’ll see how we respond tomorrow. Hopefully, we can come out with a split in this series.”
The teams play each other again at 4:15 p.m. Tuesday at Freeport.
Deer Lakes (4-8, 3-4), which fell three games behind first-place Freeport, is chasing four teams in the race for a WPIAL playoff spot.
“It’s a very good section with some very good baseball being played here,” Snyder said. “I want us to be able play our kind of game and show everybody that we belong. Last year, it was a five-way tie for the section title. There’s not a lot of separation this year, either. We’ve played some pretty sloppy baseball so far, and (with four errors) today I feel we gave away another game because of our defense.”
Blystone, a starting pitcher making his first relief appearance of the year, worked three innings of one-hit ball in relief of starter Owen Westendorf.
“He was locked in,” Carr said of Blystone. “For a starter to come in in a position he’s probably not used to shows guts. Owen did a nice job, but we wanted to show them a different look.”
Westendorf went six innings for Freeport, giving up two earned runs on nine hits with one walk. He struck out three before giving way to Blystone in the seventh with the score still knotted 3-3.
Blystone struck out three, including two during a clean ninth after Freeport took the lead in the top of the inning. He yielded just one hit and didnt’t walk a batter.
Deer Lakes starter Andrew Connelly worked 5 2/3 innings, yielding seven hits and two earned runs while walking four and striking out three.
James Gall relieved Connelly in the sixth and retired the only batter he faced in the inning with a man on base.
He pitched a total of 3 1/3 innings, giving up one earned run — Freeport added an insurance run in the ninth on an error — to take the loss. He gave up just two hits but, like Connelly, walked four.
“These are the games that build character,” Carr said. “We weren’t playing our best baseball. We made a couple mistakes defensively and stranded a lot of guys, which is not what we normally do. You get into a dogfight … We knew they were going to empty the tank on us today.
“It’s good to come out on the plus side when you’re not playing your best baseball.”
After Gavin Tola, who had three hits, led off the first with a single, Bricker’s two-run blast to left field off Connelly gave Freeport a 2-0 lead.
Deer Lakes scored single runs against Westendorf in the first inning on Eli Misera’s RBI single and in the second on a sacrifice fly by Bricker.
Luke Whitfield’s RBI double in the third pushed Freeport back in front 3-2 before Deer Lakes came back in the fourth and again tied the score on three straight hits with one out.
Luca Mangieri’s infield single scored Connelly, who singled and moved to second on a single by Jack Alcorn.
The teams jockeyed for the lead before Freeport prevailed in the second extra inning.
Though Freeport’s Carr isn’t looking forward to a potential first loss, he knows it’s tough to run the table.
“Just let it play out day-to-day,” he said. “You’re not going to win them all.”
Well, probably not.