ELIDA – Saturday’s doubleheader at Ed Sandy Field saw a little bit of everything as the hosts dumped their four game losing streak by taking a pair from visiting Spencerville 12-2 in the opener and 18-8 in the finale.
Against a heavy wind throughout the day the Bulldogs bats sliced through for a total of 30 runs and found themselves ahead on the scoreboard 3-0 after their first plate appearance in game one.
Spencerville starter Caden Johnston was chased from the game after 1.1 innings of work as he surrendered an RBI double to Elida short stop Gunnar Kuhn early in the second and left with two Bulldogs on the bases trailing 5-0.
Bearcat reliever Jack Cox took over for Johnston and surrendered a single run that was charged to Johnston before finally striking out Grant Hardeman to end the frame.
Trailing 6-0 in their third at bat the visitors finally broke their drought on the scoreboard thanks to a leadoff double by Emerson Layman and a single from Tyson Patterson who both came around to score in the frame and bring the Bearcats within 6-2.
Elida pushed their lead to 10-2 in the third with a four hit barrage against sophomore reliever Aiden Graham that plated four additional runs.
While the Bearcats were unable to muster just a pair of runners over their next two turns at the plate the Bulldogs added to their tally in the fifth on an RBI single by Colton Bailey before moments later claiming a run-rule victory on a hit to left field by Grant Hardeman to score Brady Kirk for a 12-2 victory.
Caden Johnston (0-1) took the loss for Spencerville while Ryan McGue (4IP, 2R, 4H, 5K, 2BB) earned the win for Elida.
Game two saw the Bearcats jump out to a 2-0 advantage in their first at bat thanks to a pair of RBI doubles from the duo of Emerson and Carter Layman.
Wasting no time in their own first at bat against Spencerville starter Evan Osting the Bulldogs bats produced a pair of their own markers on singles by Gunnar Kuhn and Brice Engle and an error to tie the contest up at 2-2.
Spencerville pushed back into the lead in the top of the second with an RBI single from Carter Ringwald but again found their joy short lived as Elida retook the lead in the bottom half with a trio of runs led by a 2-RBI double from Kuhn to make it 5-3 Bulldogs.
Elida hurler Andrew Cockerell surrendered one additional run in the third to the visitors when a wild pitch allowed Emerson Layman to come home to again trim the deficit, this time to 5-4.
Once again working against Aiden Graham in relief, the Elida bats pushed across two more runs on a Mike Niebel triple to the alley in left and a base hit by Gabe Adcock to go in front 7-4.
Though the Bearcats lost starting second baseman Tyson Patterson in the second inning when he was struck by a pickoff attempt in the face at second, the bats continued to remain heated as the visitors climbed within 7-6 on a double by Jack Cox, a triple by Carter Ringwald, and a single by Emerson Layman.
Starting the fourth against Graham and finishing against replacement Tyler Koenig, Elida notched five more runs on their side of the ledger with just one hit, a double by Kuhn and an error alongside a walk and a hit by pitch for a 12-6 lead.
Elida continued to bludgeon the baseball over their final two at bats on their way to a total of 13 hits in the game and finished with a trio of markers on one swing in the bottom of the sixth after the Bearcats had pulled to within 15-8 in the top of the frame when Brady Kirk launched a ball over the left centerfield fence to provide the final marks of a second straight run-rule victory.
Gunnar Kuhn led the Bulldogs at the plate in the two games as he combined to go 6-8 with four RBI and a trio of doubles while the Bearcats were led by Carter Ringwald who ended with just one at bat where he did not reach base in seven appearances while accounting for three walks and 2 RBI.
Andrew Cockerell tossed five innings for the Bulldogs and surrendered six runs on eight hits while striking out six, walking and hitting a pair each on his way to the win. Evan Osting takes the loss for Spencerville as he allowed eight runs on seven hits and a hit by pitch with five strikeouts in three innings of work.
Spencerville sees their record fall to 1-8 on the year and will host Lincolnview on Monday 5pm as they jump back into Northwest Conference play while Elida evens their record to 4-4 and will be off until Tuesday when they begin four road games in four days by traveling to WBL rival Bath for a conference clash.