“This is what they came to see” said an overly confident Carrick fan as their intimidating righty had struck out his fourth straight batter of the evening.  Admittedly, it didn’t look good for the Bulldogs, as they trailed by 3 runs with just 2 outs to spare. But what happened next was what all Bulldog fans came to see.

Hustle. Intensity.  Desire. Never quit. Bulldog baseball. Coach Mike would call them a scrappy bunch of rugrats who never gave up. He couldn’t have been more right.

“Are you fired up? I’m fired up!” Devan’s chant had been heard throughout the dugout since the lightning delay.  And then, after the next series of events, there’s no doubt that everyone indeed was all fired up.

Tyler worked a 1 out walk  bringing Drew to the plate. After being hit early in the game, Drew showed tremendous heart in digging in against the big righty. He “Drew” a walk to bring the tying run to the plate. An RBI single by Devan brought the winning run to the plate in the form of Luke B. Luke ripped his second hit of the night to score Drew with Devan hustling to third. Lukes steal put the winning run just 120 feet away. One out later, Dylan strode to the plate with the game on the line.

After a big swing which would have easily won the game resulted in a foul ball, Dylan shortened up his swing and put it in play to short. Hustling all the way through the bag, Dylan was called safe as Luke scampered around third. Before anyone could realize what had happened he reached home sending Bulldog players, coaches, and fans into a frenzy! Coach Joe would say “I had a good feeling Dylan would win the game in that spot. He’s been swinging the bat well. I even put down the scorebook in anticipation of the celebration!”

Things didn’t start well for the purple team as Carricks leadoff batter had hit a homer. After Tyler had struck out a batter for out number one, a steal to third resulted in an errant throw. For some reason the Carrick coach sent the runner home, which wasn’t allowed, as the ball came back in to Nate. Coach Joe shouted to tag the runner who had wandered down the line for the 2nd out of the inning. After a single, the Carrick team had received a team warning for leaving the base early, and Tyler would strike out the final batter to end the inning.

In the bottom of the first, walks to Devan, Luke, Dylan, and Nathan couldn’t produce a run as one runner was caught stealing.

Tyler took the hill in the 2nd inning and struck out the side around a couple baserunners. In the bottom of the 2nd, Dacien and Tyler would draw walks before Drew would be hit by pitch. Devan picked up an RBI single but the bases would be left loaded again.

Dacien took the mound in the third, giving up a couple hits.  A great catch by Mikey in center nearly resulted in a double play but at the end of the inning three Royal runners had touched home.

The bottom of the third would be much like the first two innings. Walks to Dylan and Mikey wouldn’t hurt as they were left on.

Dacien in the 4th was much better, striking out a batter and making a nifty play off the mound. A 2 out walk would force Coach Marc to go to Nate, who struck out Carrick’s leadoff batter to end the threat.

The bottom of the 4th started after a lightning delay. Once again BWAA loaded the bases with a walk to Drew, a single by Luke, and a walk to Ryan G.  Again, the bases would be left loaded with Carrick’s ace yet to pitch.

Nathan took the mound for his second inning and struck out the first batter. The next singled to center but Mikey got it in quickly to peg the aggressive runner at 2nd. A hustling play by Mason held the next batter to a triple and big red struck out the next batter to end the inning.

Carricks fireballer came in to the fifth and had no trouble disposing the boys in Purple quickly and we headed to the 6th with the score still 4-1.

Dylan was summoned for the final inning, and after striking out the first batter, walked the next.  Despite the 1st inning warning and additional prompting, the runner left early and was called out. A few batters later, the inning ended with a grounder to Dacien who threw to an alert Nathan covering second, setting the stage for the improbable comeback!

Coach Marc would say “Best team effort I’ve seen these boys have. They all stuck together, got each other fired up and never gave up on themselves. It was a very impressive victory against a solid team. Great defense to keep the game where it was to be capable of coming back.”

The Purple Bulldogs look to win the first ever inter boro championship Sunday night at 8pm at Brentwood.