Kennedy drops late-inning thrillers

Kennedy didn’t have to look far to find the two hottest teams in Conference AA-III baseball. In fact, the teams, Mepham and Calhoun, are in the same district.

The red-hot Pirates won their sixth game in a row, taking the first game of a three-game series with the Cougars (8-5 overall, 6-3 in Conference AA-III), an 11-10 slugfest, last Monday. An infield error with two outs and a runner on second base plated the game-winning run for Mepham and stretched Kennedy’s losing streak to three games.

“The hitting shoes were on today for both teams,” Cougars coach Eric Passman said. “Our starter just didn’t have it today, and everyone we brought in just got behind. Mepham’s a good hitting team, and they were just waiting [for their pitch].”

Junior Justin Leopold, the starting left fielder on most days, got a spot start behind the plate with top catcher Rob Delgado, a junior, at designated hitter. Delgado had a couple of hits, and Leopold tied the game at 10-10 in the top of the seventh with a run-scoring single that plated junior pinch runner Keith Ezersky. Senior Justin Harrison clubbed a three-run homer in the fifth that put the Cougars ahead, 7-5. “It shows a lot of character that we didn’t quit and played hard until the end,” Passman said.

The one-run defeat came on the heels of another hard luck loss, a 7-6 decision to the Colts on April 26. An RBI triple and run-scoring single capped Calhoun’s comeback from a 6-1 deficit, although Kennedy did get the tying and go-ahead runners on base in the bottom of the frame before Mike Grossnane induced a pop up and struck out two to end the threat. “Two errors opened the door,” Passman said. “Calhoun is a very good team and if you give them any opportunity, that’s it. We didn’t make plays on two playable balls.”