Indians Shake Up Lineup and Pick up Pair of Victories in Connect-Bridgeport Challenge
By Chris Johnson on April 28, 2024
Longtime Bridgeport High School baseball coach Robert Shields generally isn’t one to mess with his lineup too much.
But after a three-game stretch where his team wasn’t getting a great performance at the plate, he mixed things up a bit in Saturday’s Connect-Bridgeport Challenge and the Indians came away with victories against Philip Barbour and Parkersburg to improve to 23-4.
The Indians scored seven runs in the bottom of the first en route to a 13-7 win against Philip Barbour in Game 1 of the Challenge.
“I don’t know, I’m still getting a feel for it,” Shields said after the PB game. “I just know he had flown out 27 times in the last three ball games and that’s just enough to make you cringe.
“I wanted to tweak it a bit. We had some guys struggling, leaving a lot of men on base in the order where we were at.”
The Colts took a 1-0 lead when Tyler Sisson blasted a solo homer on the first pitch he saw off of BHS starter Conner Blake.
In the bottom half of the inning, Kasen Baun, who had primarily been batting in the No. 2 spot, drew a lead-off walk and eventually scored on a wild pitch.
Zach Rohrig, moved from the leadoff spot to No. 3 in the lineup. Mark Biafore moved down a couple spots, Brody Pierce moved up a couple of spots.
Grant Lively gave BHS the lead for a good with a two-run single. Biafore added an RBI single. Lively scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-1. Michael Romano put down a perfect bunt on a squeeze attempt that turned into an RBI single and a 6-1 lead for the Indians. Ashton Curry scored the final run of the inning, crossing home plate on a fielder’s choice
Sisson struck again for Philip Barbour in the second as he crushed a three-run double to cut the BHS lead to 7-4.
Pierce hit a leadoff triple for BHS in the second and scored on Mark Biafore’s sacrifice fly. Curry later added an RBI single and the Indians extended their lead to 9-4.
BHS manufactured single runs in the next two innings with Sean Via scoring on a wild pitch to make it 10-4. Biafore reached on an error and scored on a wild pitch to make it 11-4.
The Colts got three back in the top of the fifth, the big blow being an RBI single from Albert Gonzalez.
Jack Gould hit a two-run double in the sixth for the Tribe.
Blake earned the win, allowing five hits and four runs (only one of which was earned) in four innings with six strikeouts.
Dylan Duvall and Justin Duvall combined to pitch three innings of relief with seven combined strikeouts.
In Game 2 on Saturday, Bridgeport used a seven-run fourth inning to put away Parkersburg 10-0 in five innings.
The first two runs scored in the fourth came on two-strike pitches as Curry and Romano hit back-to-back RBI singles to the opposite field.
Baun followed with an RBI double to make it 6-0. Pierce and Rohrig delivered back-to-back run-scoring singles and Blake capped things off with a two-run double.
“That’s what I’ve been looking for,” Shields said. “That’s the approach we need at the plate to take some pressure off our pitching. We have to drive the ball, we have to take it the other way. I thought even some of the outs we had, we hit the ball hard, just right at somebody.”
Ben Bifano was stellar on the mound against the Big Reds, allowing just two hits in four innings with six strikeouts en route to picking up the win. Sean Via closed things out with a perfect fifth inning, where he struck out one on the way to retiring the Big Reds in order.
Baun, Pierce, Rohrig, Dylan Duvall and Blake all had two hits against the Big Reds. Blake and Biafore each drove in two runs.
Also on Saturday, Philip Barbour defeated Parkersburg 4-2 to improve to 12-9. The Colts had entered Saturday’s action on a seven-game win streak.
Prior to Saturday’s Connect-Bridgeport Challenge, the Indians defeated Wheeling Park, 3-2, on Thursday and suffered their fourth one-run loss of the season to East Fairmont, 5-4.
Against Wheeling Park, Rohrig and Curry each had a hit and drove in a run. Jacob Stavrakis had another strong outing on the mound, scattering four hits over six innings with two runs allowed, one walks and three strikeouts.
Justin Duvall picked up the save, striking out two in one inning.
The Bees took an early 2-0 lead against the Tribe and held on for the win. River McClain picked up the win out of the bullpen for East Fairmont.
The Indians hurt themselves by committing four errors.
Romano led BHS at the plate, going 3-for-3 with an RBI. Stavrakis doubled and drove in a run.
Pierce was tagged with the loss.
Bridgeport returns to action on Monday at Lewis County in a game that will likely decided the Big 10 Conference championship. The showdown with the Minutemen is tentatively scheduled to start at 6 p.m.
Editor's Note: Top photo of Pierce, bottom photo of Rohrig surrounded by teammates by Joe LaRocca.
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