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Bridgeport scores 8 in fifth to race by Shady Spring, 9-2

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Time and time again, Bridgeport’s baseball program has risen to the occasion at Appalachian Power Park.

The latest version occurred Friday morning when the Indians overcame a 2-1 deficit in the fifth inning against Shady Spring in a Class AA semifinal.

After the Tigers had gone ahead in the top of the fifth, the Tribe scored eight runs in the home half of the inning to pull away for a 9-2 win.

“We cut down on our swings and started hitting the ball where we were supposed to,” veteran Bridgeport coach Robert Shields said. “We were selective all day long and I’m proud of them for that. We ran up the pitch count.”

With the victory, the Indians will play No. 2 Frankfort in Saturday’s title game at approximately 8:45 p.m. A win would give Bridgeport a sixth consecutive Class AA championship.

“Tomorrow is another day and we get the opportunity to be there a sixth straight time,” Shields said.

Shady Spring (20-11) jumped ahead early on Grant Davis’ first-inning groundout to second, allowing Kenneth Sizmore to score the game’s first run.

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The Indians (30-7) got even in their first trip to the plate, knotting the game on Drew Harbert’s infield single that scored Ryan Goff. But Bridgeport left the bases loaded that inning and stranded two more in the second, leaving the game tied at 1.

Consecutive singles by Ethan Perry and Harbert to start the third allowed the Indians to threaten again, but Evan Ogden’s bunt was popped up and led to a double play.

“We didn’t put enough pressure on them,” Shady Spring coach David Shaw said. “They hit the ball well and put the ball in play. They put pressure on us all game and we didn’t do it all game. We didn’t make it hard on them.”

Shady Spring turned its second of three double plays to end the fourth inning, before taking another one-run lead in the fifth.

Jason Meadows and Sizemore connected for back-to-back two-out singles, and Matthew St. Clair hit a ground ball to short that resulted in Sizemore beating the throw to second and Meadows coming around from second to score the go-ahead run.

The next time the Tigers came to the plate, however, they trailed by seven runs.

Vincenzo Cava, Nick Stalnaker and Perry each singled to start the bottom of the fifth. After pinch hitter Trent Tucker drew a walk to tie the game, starting pitcher Tommy Williams was pulled in favor of Nicholas Cooper.

Cooper immediately walked Evan Ogden to give the Tribe a 3-2 lead. Two batters later, Quintin Reeep singled to left to drive in D’Andre Hollaway, with an error in the outfield allowing Tucker and Ogden to score on the play for a 6-2 lead.

Cooper didn’t make it through the fifth and the Indians added three more runs on Austin Sponaugle’s RBI single, Stalnaker’s sacrifice fly and a throwing error that plated Goff.

Bridgeport’s Robert Shields postgame interview

“Once (Tommy’s pitch count) gets up in the mid 70s to 80s, he has a hard time and gets a little tired,” Shaw said. “We knew that. He has been able to gut through. Today, he just wasn’t able to do it. We saw that so we went to our next guy. Nick isn’t overpowering and he just comes in and gets outs. Today, they hit him.”

Via retired six of the seven batters he faced over the final two innings to go the distance and put to rest any thought of a Tigers’ comeback. He struck out six, walked a pair and scattered only four hits in the complete game effort.

“Tim’s done this three times in a row where he’s just been a workhorse,” Shields said. “I’m real pleased with him. We held them to two runs and one they shouldn’t have gotten.”

Williams took the loss after allowing five runs on seven hits in four-plus innings.

Sizemore accounted for half of his team’s four hits, while Cava, Perry and Harbert finished with two hits apiece in the win.





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