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SE Bulloch comes from down 8-3 to beat Islands 10-9
SEB baseball
Southeast Bulloch's Brendan O’Dowd, left, beats out the tag at home from Islands catcher Dylan Gordon as the Yellow Jacks draw within one run in the fifth inning after trailing by five on Tuesday, March 21. - photo by SCOTT BRYAN/staff

The Southeast Bulloch baseball team showed plenty of perseverance Tuesday night as they came back from an 8-3 defect to knock off Islands in an important region showdown in Brooklet by a score of 10-9. The win improves the Jackets record to 7-5 overall and 4-0 in region play.

 

“The story early was we had a lot of chances but couldn’t really cash in as much as we should have,” said SEB coach Brandon Peterson. “I love the way our guys responded though after we got in a hole. They scored four runs in the top of the fifth and we come right back and score seven runs in the bottom of the inning. That shows a great resiliency and I am super proud of the guys for that.”

 

The Jackets scored three runs in the first inning but failed to capitalize on many opportunities with runners on base. Islands stormed back for four runs in the third and added four more in the top of the fifth in taking an 8-3 lead.

 

The Jackets came back to erupt for seven runs in the bottom of the fifth scoring six of the runs with two-outs. Brendan O’Dowd started the rally with an RBI single to left to cut the lead to 8-4. Will Nelson then came through with a bases loaded double which drove in three to trim the lead to 8-7.

 

The Jackets tied the game as Layne Alford grounded to short. The throw to first went in the dirt and rolled to the fence allowing Nelson to score to tie the game at 8-8. Brandon Stewart gave the Jackets the lead with an RBI single to center and then Kyle Ruarks drew a walk with the bases loaded to put SEB up 10-8.

 

“They had a pitching change and I think we took a lot better approach at the plate in the fifth inning,” Peterson said. “We barreled some balls up early in the count and scored almost all of our runs with two outs. We tell these guys all the time that two-out hits win games and they saw that tonight.”

 

Islands scrapped back for a run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly, but Cade Harnage was able to shut the door on the Sharks in the seventh as he ended up going 2.2 innings in relief of Gage DiGiovanni and allowed one run on four hits with two strikeouts in earning the win.

 

The Sharks actually outhit the Jackets 11-7 but Islands pitchers issued 14 walks in the game.

 

Next up for the Jackets they travel to Islands Wednesday at 5:30 and then wrap up their three-game series Thursday at 5:30 in Brooklet.