RANDY HISNER
WZBD.com
NEW HAVEN – The New Haven Bulldogs overcame an early 6-1 deficit to pull out an 8-7 win over Adams Central at Dave Bischoff Field in New Haven Friday night in the first game of a doubleheader.
The Bulldogs broke a 7-7 tie in the bottom of the sixth when they scored the winning run on a perfectly executed double-steal attempt.
With two out and Erick Garcia on third and Cordell Roberson on first, the Bulldogs made their move. Roberson left first base early and drew a pickoff throw from Adams Central reliever Ethan Funk. While Roberson got into a rundown, Garcia broke for home at just the right moment. The Jets desperately tried to tag Roberson for the third out before Garcia could score, but Garcia touched the plate a split second before the out.
In the top of the seventh, New Haven closer Ryne Haver gave up a leadoff single to Ethan Funk but then retired the next three batters to notch the save.
“Haver comes in and does what Haver does,” praised New Haven coach Dave Bischoff. “He throws strikes. He has slow, slower, and backup. And he likes to be there at the end, so that makes it a nice luxury.”
Of the winning double-steal, Bischoff said, “It was two seniors, you know, here on signing day. [Between games, Garcia and Roberson signed to play baseball at Indiana Tech next year.] “We had one senior score from third on the steal, and we had the other one getting in the rundown. That’s not as easy as it looks. They timed it just right, and we got the run, so that was huge for us.”
A five-run rally in the first—keyed by two New Haven errors and doubles by Joey Everett, Ethan Funk, and Jacob Pruitt—got the Jets off to a good start, and they added a run in the second on Reece Hammond’s sacrifice fly. That gave them a 6-1 lead and apparent control of the contest.
But the Jets found runs hard to come by the rest of the way. New Haven lefty reliever Jakobee Shuler replaced starter Garcia at the start of the fourth and gave up only one run in his three innings of work.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs kept chipping away at the Jets’ lead, scoring three runs in the third and three more in the fourth. Though Garcia contributed a double to each rally, much of the Bulldog damage in those innings was the result of “small ball”—a hit by pitch, an infield single, a bunt single, a sacrifice fly, an RBI groundout, and a suicide squeeze.
The rallies gave the Bulldogs a 7-6 lead, which they held until the Jets’ Colston Pruitt led off the sixth with a long double off the left field fence and then scored on Everett’s clutch two-out line-drive single to left, tying the game and setting up the Bulldogs’ daring double steal in the bottom of the inning.
With the win, New Haven improved to 5-4 while the Jets fell to 0-5.
Shuler claimed the win for New Haven, giving up one earned run on two hits and no walks in three innings. He struck out three. Barrett Collier took the loss. He yielded six earned runs on seven hits and a walk in three innings.
Everett, Funk, and Pruitt each had two hits for the Jets. Garcia, Ethan Goodwin, and Ethan Wake had two hits for the Bulldogs.
Haver shuts down Jets in second game
Adams Central fell into an early hole in the second game, falling behind 7-0, but they were able to knock New Haven starter Cordell Roberson out of the ballgame with five-run third. Ryne Haver came on in relief and got out of the inning without giving up the lead, then held the Jets to just one run over the remaining three innings. The Bulldogs completed thee sweep with a 16-6 win.
Jets pitching issued seven walks, but the real culprit was the defense, with half of New Haven’s runs coming unearned. AC made four errors.
Braylon Eddington’s RBI single with one out in the sixth gave the home team a walk-off run-rule win.
Erick Garcia and CJ Robertson each had two hits for the Bulldogs, who scored 16 runs on just nine hits.
Jami Roach started the game and gave up seven earned runs before being replaced in the second inning by Colston Pruitt. Jacob Miller pitched the final two innings for the Jets, who fell to 0-6.
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