Barron Collier Rallies To Defeat Palmetto Ridge

Third baseman Johnathan Newman doubled and scored twice in the Cougars’ victory.

Senior night for the Cougars added an extra layer of excitement to the game. Barron Collier took the lead early, but the Palmetto Ridge Bears put up a fight and took the lead back twice before ultimately losing 5-4.

The Cougars’ Logan Langham hit a single that scored Marc Coffers with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning to get the lead back for good. Barron Collier kept that slim lead into the seventh, where closer Nick DeNove got three outs to end the game.

“I knew if I went in and threw strikes that my defense would back me up, and they did,” said DeNove.

The Cougars improve to 13-7 with their fifth win in a row, while the Bears fall to 10-8 with their second straight loss following a four-game win streak.

“Our team didn’t have our best game tonight, but I was impressed by the team competing tonight even though we had our B-game,” said Cougars’ manager Charlie Maurer.

The Bears couldn’t get anything going in the first after three ground ball outs gave the Cougars their chance to hit. They led off with a double from Johnathan Newman, followed by a single from Nick DeNove that landed runners on first and third. A ground ball from Coffers scored a run but was turned into a double play by the Bears. A strikeout ended the inning with the Cougars up 1-0.

The second was another quick inning for the Bears offense. Pitcher Jose Rodriguez doubled with two outs, but a fly ball ended the inning leaving him stranded on second.

“We have to work on our offense; we left too many guys on,” said Bears’ manager Kyle Mason “We have to drive them in when they are in scoring position.”

Derek Rascher scored twice in the Bears’ loss.

In the bottom half of the frame, the Cougars’ Gabe Noguera singled and stole second, followed by a walk to Billy Zeliff. An overthrow on a double steal landed Zeliff on third while Noguera crossed the plate. Jose Rodriguez then struck out three consecutive batters to end the inning.

The third inning got off to a quick start. Shortstop Adrian Soler reached on a single, moved to second on a passed ball and was brought in by Derek Rascher, who singled to right and reached second after the ball got past the right fielder. A walk landed Jeff Pelletier on first, and he stole second to put runners on second and third. A ground ball hit by Kenny Geiger was misplayed and allowed him to reach second, while both base runners scored.

The Cougars didn’t go down without a fight. They loaded the bases in the bottom half of the inning and a single from Zeliff brought two runs across the plate to cut the Cougars’ lead to 4-3.

“We needed those runs and it felt nice to get that hit and it felt great to score those runs,” said Zeliff.

The Bears put runners on first and third early in the fifth, but Cougars catcher John Long threw Jacob Fitts out attempting to steal. A walk then put Pelletier on first and a passed ball moved him to third, while a run scored to tie the game at 4-4. Pelletier attempted to score on a double steal, but was tagged out on a close play at the plate.

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