Ida Baker Downs Cypress Lake In District Win

Christian Menendez’s two run homer gave the Bulldogs the lead in the third.

Early runs were not enough to propel the Cypress Lakes’ Panthers over the fourth-ranked Ida Baker Bulldogs. After giving up three runs in the second inning the Bulldogs put up 11 unanswered runs for an 11-3 victory.

The Bulldogs improve their record to 15-2 and keep their place as district leaders in 6A-11 with an 8-2 mark. Meanwhile the Panthers fall to 8-9 and remain at fifth in the district at 4-6.

The Panthers got the ball rolling in the first by putting two runners on, before a double play ended the inning. But the pressure was on.

After the Bulldogs were put away 1-2-3, the Panthers put up three runs. With two outs, first baseman Austin Hayman reached base after a dropped third strike. A walk moved him over and he scored on a misplayed ground ball to third hit by Chase Howell. Left fielder Josh Ashby reached base on an infield single, loading the bases. A walk brought the second run in and a passed ball allowed a third run to score, putting the Panthers up by three.

“We worked on hitting yesterday, so today we just took what we did in practice and we put it in the game,” said Ida Baker manager Robert Van Deventer. “We got a little lazy at the start, which is really out of character for us, but we turned it around and picked ourselves up.”

The Bulldogs’ Dakota Kayatta came to the plate with two outs and hit a rocket to right-center allowing him to score an inside-the-park home run. Starter Chris Schrowe dialed in for the third inning and went three more frames while only giving up one hit and striking out four.

“I just found my change-up, listened to my pitching coach, and my fastball started grooving,” said Schrowe. “Once it got started it didn’t stop.”

First baseman Austin Hayman scored one run for the Panthers in the second.

As the Panthers’ offense slowed down, the Bulldogs sped up. With two outs in the third center fielder Luke Endsley reached base on a walk and was moved to third after a double from Matt McGarty. A passed ball brought Endsley in and moved McGarty to third. Gabe Villaverde walked, putting runners on first and third. McGarty scoored as Villaverde stole second.

The game was now tied at three as Christian Menendez came to bat and homered, driving in two and putting the Bulldogs up 5-3.

“I didn’t try to do to much at the plate. I connected on a perfect pitch and a perfect thing happened,” said Menendez.

In the fourth McGarty drove in two with a double and Cory Hill drove in another with a single. In the fifth an error allowed two Bulldogs to score and a walk brought in a third run. The Bulldogs were up by eight headed into the seventh as reliever Dakota Kayatta closed the game out 1-2-3 to give the Bulldogs the win.

“We are looking forward to a little break and hoping to come back fresh and with a fresh attitude,” said Cypress Lake manager Rick Little.

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