'Birds take advantage of BC gaffe

The Ricebirds pulled ahead of Bay City Saturday in extra innings with quick reaction and great speed.

Tied 6-6 in the bottom of the ninth, the winning run came in on a wild pitch by the Blackcats. Landon Appling stole home for the final run and gave the home-town Ricebird fans reason to celebrate.

In one of the closest games of the season, even the first inning was intense.

Bay City started the game with a pair of runs in the top of the inning, but the Ricebirds answered to tie the game.

Tyler Socha, in El Campo's first atbat, actually struck out but took first base on a Bay City error.

Blake Korenek hit a sacrifice bunt to send Socha to second base and Landon Appling followed with a single to put runners on first and third bases.

Bryan Skow hit into a fielder's choice for the Ricebirds' first score. A ground ball to second base put him out at first, but let Socha come home for the score.

Matthew Hamman earned the second RBI. He hit a single to left field and sent Appling home to tie the game at 2-2.

Bay City pulled back ahead in the third inning 3-2, but the lead did not last long.

El Campo took charge in the bottom of the third with three runs. Socha walked to lead off the inning and, just like his first at-bat, Korenek made a sacrifice bunt to put him on second base.

Appling connected for a double to score the tying run and set himself up for a score.

A single by Skow sent Appling home and put El Campo in the lead 4-3. Skow eventually scored on a Blackcat error to take a 5-3 lead.

Bay City tied the game once again in the fifth, but the sixth inning provided El Campo another scoring opportunity.

Chris Quinn fought through a long at-bat and hit safely for a single. Holden Whitley bunted him over to second base in order to set up an RBI.

Socha hit a double and brought Quinn in to give El Campo a 6-5 lead.

The Blackcats were not finished yet. They scored a run in the top of the seventh to put pressure on the 'Birds.

One run in the bottom of the seventh meant a win for El Campo. The Ricebirds went down in three outs on the first three at-bats and the game moved into extra innings.

Both teams played through the next two innings evenly matched. Finally, Bay City fell apart in the bottom of the ninth and the Ricebirds took advantage.

With two outs and Appling on third base, Michael Van Gorp came up to bat. He earned strikes on the first two pitches and balls on the next two.

With almost a full count, Van Gorp swung at the final pitch and missed. He struck out, but the pitch was so wild that it sailed to the backstop and gave El Campo a lucky break.

Van Gorp sped to first while Appling ran home for the winning run.

El Campo claimed a 7-6 victory by playing smart baseball and capitalizing on their opponent's mistakes.

The Ricebirds hosted Foster last night and will travel to Richmond to face the Falcons a final time this season. Next week features games against Seven Lakes before the Ricebirds take on Lamar Consolidated in the final week of the season.