Lowry inches closer to the playoffs

Lowry inches closer to the playoffs

By Brandon Eastman Posted May 1, 2011

This past weekend on Friday, April 22 and Saturday, April 23, the Lowry varsity baseball team traveled to Spring Creek High School to take on the Spartans with a spot in the playoffs on the line.

The Bucks found themselves in a must-win situation during both games on Saturday after suffering a difficult loss in the series opener on Friday by a score of 14-13. After holding the lead for much of the game, Lowry let the lead slip away at the end, putting themselves in a tough situation.

Overnight, after some meetings with the coaches, it seemed the Bucks found a sense of urgency, as they came out in the first game of the Saturday doubleheader with some stellar defense and phenomenal pitching from senior Dusty Kraft, who came on in relief after just one batter. Senior Anders Pace started the day on the mound, but after four pitches he started to feel some pain in his right shoulder. Pace, however, would stay in the game as the Bucks made some defensive changes.

The game remained close for the first six innings before Lowry broke the game wide open with ten runs in the top of the seventh inning to put the game away.

The second game of the doubleheader featured a hot start from the Bucks as they raced out to a 5-0 lead in the second inning, courtesy of home runs off the bats of Pace, junior Jace Billingsley, and sophomore Jesse Studebaker. The Spartans would then hold Lowry scoreless until extra innings as they came back to tie the game. Kraft was the starting pitcher in this game, but after four innings he reached the 11-inning limit, which left the Bucks in search of some relief pitching. They found it in sophomore Tyler Brumm, senior Mitch Pollock, and Billingsley.

The three extra innings in this game were stressful for both teams, as each squad had chances to win, and Pollock throwing his first pitches of the season. In the end, it was the clutch hitting of the Bucks along with some timely umpire intervention that helped Lowry pull out the win with a score of 8-6 in the 10th inning.

The Bucks are back in action this weekend April 29 and 30 as they travel to Ely to take on White Pine High School.

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