Bay City Blackcats playoff bound

Ross Cunningham/Matagorda Advocate

May 01, 2008 - 10:40 a.m.

The Bay City Blackcats closed out the regular season with an 8-7 come from behind victory over the Foster Falcons on Friday, April 25, at Bay City. Junior Trevor Seidel placed down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt for the Blackcats that scored pinch runner Fred Hawkins from third base as the team celebrated as Hawkins slid across the plate.

Bay City finished District 24-4A in second place with an 11-4 record behind district champs Lamar Mustangs who had a 12-3 record. Bay City will play the Dickinson Gators for the bi-district championship on Friday, May 2, at Brazoswood High School with a double header. The first game will start at 6 p.m. and the second game will start around 8 p.m. A third game will be played on Saturday, May 3, if necessary.

Derek Montgomery started the game for the Blackcats on the mound and quickly retired the side with seven pitches. Travis Tomek started a rally for the Blackcats in the bottom of the first inning with a double off the fence in left field. Zach Benson followed with an RBI double scoring Tomek from second for a 1-0 Bay City lead.

Foster tied the game in the second inning. Wade Konuka led off the inning with a double and went to third base on a wild pitch. Ryan Smith walked and Konuka scored and Smith went to second on a balk by Montgomery. The Blackcats stopped the rally by Foster as Montgomery fanned the next batter and Caleb Stoka ground into a double play to end the inning.

Bay City took the lead back in the bottom of the second inning on a sacrifice ground out by Seidel scoring Montgomery from third for a 2-1 advantage. Montgomery opened the inning with a walk, went to second base on a wild pitch and took third base on a fielder’s choice.

A.J. Flores relieved Montgomery at the mound in the third inning and the Falcons greeted Flores with a lead off double by Traca Cryer and then stole third base. Chance Leissner was called with catcher interference as Eric Gorka trotted down to first base for the Falcons. Gorka then stole second base. Joey Scheurch followed with a 2 RBI single and took second base on the throw to the plate as Foster led 3-2. Ryan Torres sacrificed another run in as Foster led 4-2. Konuka walked but was thrown out at second as he tried to steal a base for the second out. Smith followed with a solo homerun to give the visitors a 5-2 advantage.

The Blackcats rallied in the fourth inning to tie the game at 5-all. Shaun Rutherford started the inning by reaching first base after being hit by a pitch. Montgomery walked and Chad Barrett was hit by another pitch to load the bases. The rally appeared to stall as the next two batters went down swinging. Colby Hines kept the inning alive with a single to left field scoring Rutherford and Montgomery. Chad Barrett tied the game for the Blackcats as he scored on a wild pitch as he slid across the plate beating out the relay.

Charles Klepac took the mound for Bay City in the Fifth inning. Konuka singled for the Falcons and then scored on a double by Smith to give Foster a 6-5 advantage. The Blackcats answered back to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth inning. Benson led of with a single followed by a single by Leissner. Rutherford followed with an RBI single to even the score up. The falcons managed to squeeze out of a jam as the next batter went down swinging and Seidel ground into a double play. Foster took back the lead in the sixth inning as they scored on a fielding error for a 7-6 advantage.

Benson opened the seventh inning as he reached first after being hit by a pitch and stole second base. Leissner followed with a singled that bounced over the third baseman’s head scoring Benson from second for a 7-7 tie. Rutherford took first after being hit by a pitch and Montgomery was intentionally walked to load the bases. Barrett hit into a fielder’s choice as Foster catcher tag the plate for the force before Seidel hit the game winner.

• Ross Cunningham is a reporter/photographer for the Matagorda Advocate. Contact him at 979-244-1330 or rcunningham@vicad.com.