BAKER — Scattered thunderstorms in the area and heavy rain in the first inning couldn’t stop Baker School’s baseball team Thursday as the Gators hosted Rocky Bayou Christian.
By the time the weather cleared Baker was on its way to a 9-4 win.
The Gators have won three straight since losing to Chipley on March 8.
“We’ve been playing with a lot more intensity,
Gator Coach Adam Henry said of the recent win streak. “We are playing a little bit of small ball right now. We’ve got to get the bats going a little better.
“This win is getting us closer to .500, which is definitely a positive step. Pitching wise we had some good pitching tonight and we had a few good at bats.”
Lightning in the area delayed the start of the game by about 30 minutes. And as Baker came to bat in the bottom of the first the skies opened up and the rain came pouring down.
But not even the heavy downpour slowed the initial Gator push.
Austin Davis led off the game for Baker with a base hit to left, and took second base on a Knight error. He then stole third base.
Logan Rickmon followed and was safe on an error. A one-out walk to Bubba Ellis loaded the bases.
Dakota Blackburn walked to score Davis. Rickmon scored as Will Davis walked.
Gator pitcher Ryan Weidenhammer had his way with the Knights through the early part of the game. Weidenhammer held Rocky Bayou to two hits and struck out three in five innings of work to pick up the win.
Weidenhammer had plenty of help from the guys behind him as the Gator defense made just one error despite playing on rain soaked field.
Baker (5-8) scored four runs in the third inning to put the game out of reach.
With one out Blackburn was hit by a pitch, Weidenhammer reached on an error and Will Davis was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Gabe Nelson’s sacrifice fly scored Blackburn. RJ Bush singled to score Tom Crowson, who was running for Weidenhammer and move Will Davis to third.
Bush turned what could have been a base running blunder into a heads up play. He seemed to be picked off first base, but he ran straight for second and beat the throw. With the attention of the Knight defenders on Bush, Will Davis was able to score from third.
A single by Austin Davis scored Bush to make it 6-0 after three innings of play.
Baker scored three more runs in the fifth inning. The big blow of the inning was a two-run triple by Austin Davis to drive in Nelson and Chandler Rockwell. Davis scored when Rickmon was safe on another Knight error.
Crowson replaced Weidenhammer on the mound for the final two innings and gave up four runs on three hits. He struck out four batters.
Austin Davis led the Gator attack with three hits and two runs scored. He was hit by a pitch in his other plate appearance. Blackburn, Nelson and Bush had Baker’s other hits.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Baker baseball team gets third straight win