BRADFORD – The Tri-Village Patriots traveled to Bradford for a Tuesday night Cross County Conference matchup with the Railroaders and rallied after trailing 2-0 early to earn a 5-3 win.
“After a rough stretch of games last week,” said Tri-Tri-Village coach Jim Maples, “this was a must win for the Patriots.”
Bradford plated single runs in the bottom of both the first and second innings to take a 2-0 lead with two innings in the book.
The Patriots battle back scoring a single run in the third inning and added three runs in the top of the fifth, all coming with two outs to take a 4-2 lead.
“Clutch hitting has been a weakness for Tri-Village this season,” Maples noted, “but today was a bright spot late in the game.”
The boys from New Madison dented the plate for a run in the top of the sixth stretching their lead to 5-1 before Bradford would score a run in the bottom of the seventh to close out scoring on the day and give the Patriots a two run CCC win.
“The inning was highlighted by a Derek Eyer triple and a successful suicide squeeze by Gage Hileman,” Maples said of the team’s sixth inning.
Bradford outhit the visitors 12-7, committed two errors to three Tri-Village errors but it was the Patriots making the most of their hit to pull out the win.
Dylan Finkbine went the distance on the mound for Tri-Village giving up three earned runs on 12 hits while striking out three and walking four Railroaders.
Dereck Eyer led the Patriots offense going 3-4 including a triple and two runs scored. Matthew Holzapfel went 2-4 with a RBI and Gage Hileman was 1-3 while collecting two RBIs.
Tri-Village improves to 7-8 overall and 4-5 in conference play.
