Bobcats win in walk off fashion for the second day in a row.
The Bobcats split the Sunday double header with Mid Michigan 5-4 and 4-5 winning game one in extras in walk off fashion. Jackson Homage was the hero today as he laced a 2 out bases loaded single into left field to score John Costella and win the ball game 5-4.
Game 1
Christian Boyles got the Bobcats on the board with the first swing of the game when he hit a towering flyball deep into the right center gap that the Laker right fielder would be unable to track down.Tthe speedy Boyles rounded the bases and dove into home with his first homerun on the season giving the Bobcats a 1-0 lead at the end of the first. Tylor Wolfe got his first start on the mound for the Bobcats and looked stellar. Working around a few early free passes, Wolfe would throw 5 innings of shutout baseball with 7 strikeouts before turning the ball over to the bullpen. Christian Boyles would add to the Bobcat 1-0 lead with another solo home run. He would get to jog around the bases for this one as the ball was hit through the trees behind the fence in left center field. The Lakers would get on the board in the sixth with an unearned run when a 2 out sky high fly ball was mishandled in right field allowing a runner to score all the way from first base. Bobcat reliever Alex Tackett would work around the defensive misstep to get out of the inning only allowing the one run. The Bobcats would answer right back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth when Jackson Homage singled into left center with two outs to drive in Costella and Dominic Daring making the game 4-1 Bobcats heading into the 7th. A double and another Bobcat error would lead to a run for the Lakers and the end of the day for Tackett as Adam Wibert came in to try and close this one out. The Lakers wouldn't be denied as they would drive in two more after a walk and a swinging bunt base hit set the table for the Lakers catcher Sayer Robinson line drive to center to tie the ball game up with one out in the 7th. Dominic Daring would erase a Laker runner trying to advance to third on a ball in the dirt for the second out, and Wibert would take care of the third out himself with a strikeout. The Bobcats would go down in order in the 7th sending this game into extras. Wibert would pitch the 8th setting the Lakers down in order with two more strikeouts. John Costella would start the Bobcats half of the inning with a walk. Riley Day, who hit a three run walk off homerun in game 1 yesterday, stepped to the plate and hit a single into left to put two runners on and nobody out. Dylan Cutler would execute the sacrifice bunt perfectly moving the runners into scoring position. An intentional walk to Daring would load the bases for the red hot Homage (hitting .444 on the week) to lace the first pitch he saw into left field for the Bobcat win.
Game 2
The Bobcats would play from ahead for the 4th game in a row as the starter for the Lakers had some trouble finding the strike zone in the first inning walking in a run before settling in. Dustyn Lucas started this game for the Bobcats and would work around some traffic on the bases to put up two clean innings while striking out a pair before turning the ball over to lefty Antonio Arroyo out of the bullpen. Another Riley day round tripper (his third on the weekend) would drive home John Costella increasing the Bobcat lead to 3-0. Arroyo would ente the game and retire the first 6 Laker hitters he faced including 3 strikeouts before surrendering a double to Keegan Haynes in the 5th. Haynes would come around to score on a Bobcat error getting the Lakers on the board 3-1 before Arroyo retired the next two batters in order. The Bobcats would push the lead back to 3 in the bottom of the 5th on a Boyles double and stolen base followed by a Costella sacrifice fly. Two hits in the top of the sixth would end the day for Arroyo who would come out of the pen to throw three and a third innings on 42 pitches, 36 of which were strikes. Joseph Mouch would take over and surrender an RBI single, and a three run homerun to Gavin Smith that would give the Lakers the lead 5-4. The Bobcat bats ran out of magic as they were unable to pull off the walk off win for a third time in two days dropping this one to the Lakers 5-4.
On the day Christian Boyles, Riley Day, and Jackson Homage would lead the team offensively with 3 hits a piece including 3 home runs (Boyles 2 Day 1). Tylor Wolfe would lead the Bobcats on the mound with 5 scoreless innings and 7 strikeouts. The Bobcats finish the 4 game series with Mid Michigan 3-1 moving their record to 5-5 on the young season. They will be back at Cisar Field next Saturday the 27th for their first conference series with the Lakeland Lakers.