Baseball team loses seesaw battle

WILMINGTON- The Twin Valley and Leland & Gray varsity baseball teams met for the first time this season Friday afternoon at Baker Field. The visiting Rebels came away with a 20-6 win.
Leland & Gray jumped out to an early lead, plating three runs in the top of the first.  Twin Valley scored in the bottom of the first to close the gap.  After a scoreless second inning, the Rebels sent four runners across the plate to pull out to a 7-1 lead. The Wildcats crept a litte closer in the bottom of the third by scoring another run. In the fourth, the Rebels again scored four runs, but the Wildcats added two runs of their own and trailed 11-4 after four innings.
Both teams were scoreless in the fifth inning. The Rebels blew the game open in the top of the sixth, scoring nine runs.  Twin Valley tried to rally back in the bottom of the sixth, scoring four runs. But it wasn’t enough to slice the lead to a manageable number, and the Rebels came away with the mercy-rule-shortened win.
“We were still in the game until the sixth,” said Twin Valley coach Brian Monroe. “We gave up nine runs that inning, but we got four runs back in the bottom half. They did a great job putting the ball in play.”
For the Wildcats, Joey Rafus went 2-4 with a run scored and James McGovern was 1-3 and scored once. Sophomore Tyson Longe made his season debut on the mound for Twin Valley, coming on in relief of McGovern in the sixth inning.
Poultney 9, TV 8
POULTNEY-  The Twin Valley varsity baseball team has had a number of close games this season. On Monday, they played well but came up shy of the finish line against the Blue Devils.
“We traveled to Poultney and played a great game,” said Wildcat coach Brian Monroe. “We came up just a bit short but we had a great effort.”
Twin Valley opened the game with a good first inning. Izzak Park and Logan Park walked, and then Hayden Reed cleared the bases with a home run. Poultney countered with a run of their own in the bottom of the first, then added four more in the bottom of the second to take a 5-3 lead.
The game stayed on its seesaw as Twin Valley regained the lead with four runs in the top of the third inning. As part of the scoring in the third, Logan Park dropped a drag bunt, stole second, and Reed doubled him home.
Poultney worked their way back into the lead in the bottom of the third, scoring three runs to go up 8-7.  They added another run in the bottom of the fourth, and that proved to be the difference in the game.
In the top of the seventh, Twin Valley cut the lead to one when Tyson Longe doubled home Joey Rafus with two outs. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, Poultney was able to snuff out the rally and Longe was stranded at second base.
Rafus, Longe, and Eric Bolognani had two hits apiece. Longe also had three runs batted in.
“The kids played hard and we will continue to bring the intensity,” said Monroe. “They (Poultney) only had three balls hit to the outfield. We struggled throwing strikes and will keep working on our mechanics.”
In other games this week, Twin Valley had to forfeit its game Saturday with Proctor as the Wildcats couldn’t field enough players. On Tuesday, the Wildcats forfieted to Green Mountain 7-0. Twin Valley hosted the Black River Presidents Wednesday afternoon. The Wildcats came up short, losing 15-12.
The team is back in action Friday, hosting Mount St. Joseph at Baker Field at 4:30 pm.
On Monday, they travel to Townshend for a rematch with Leland & Gray.