Pilgrim baseball gets comeback win over Pirates
Tuesday, April 22, 2008 11:40 AM PDT
Argus Observer sports staff
New Plymouth—The Pilgrim baseball team scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning for the late, come-from-behind 9-5 victory Monday in a non-league baseball game against the Payette Pirates.
New Plymouth began the contest scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning, one of those runs compliments of New Plymouth’s KJ Morris who stroked a solo home run. New Plymouth added two more runs in the third for the 4-1 lead.
Payette, however, battled back in the top of the fourth with three runs to tie the game at four, then took the lead in the top of the sixth with a solo home run off the bat of Kacee Hirchert, who was inserted into the line up as a pinch-hitter. On the first pitch he saw from Pilgrim pitcher Wes Hooten, Hirchert went deep to center field.
With the comfortable lead gone, the Pilgrims did not give up, and in the home half of the sixth, rallied with five more runs, which proved to be enough for the win.
“They battled back,” New Plymouth head coach Darin Gray said. “It was a great game to be a part of.”
Gray said the past two games his team has played — both wins — has shown how much the team has changed since the start of the year.
“Early in the year we struggled in the come-back wins, but now the team is playing hard, and they are expecting good things to happen,” Gray said. “They are gelling together as a team, and these last few wins are a step in the right direction.”
New Plymouth will take its current winning streak to Nampa today for a date with the Trojans. The game is set to begin at 5 p.m.
