Charles W. Flanagan High School Baseball

It was a crazy, sometimes ugly, but definitely exciting doubleheader for the JV Falcons, as they fought back from seemingly insurmountable deficits to tie and defeat the JV Douglas Eagles, 11-11 and 9-8, at Falcons Field on Saturday.

In Game 1, despite only having 5 hits and leaving 6 runners stranded through the first four frames, the Falcons were still in a ballgame headed into the top of the 5th inning, with Douglas up 4-1 and the Falcons retiring the side in order the inning prior.  However, by the time the dust had settled on the top of the fifth inning, the Eagles had sent 12 men to the plate, belted 7 hits and extended their lead to 11-1, leaving Flanagan fans wondering what had just happened.  Little did those in attendance know that the Baby Falcons had a comeback brewing of their own.

After a leadoff walk to Jason Torres, a single by Ryan Lozada (2-3, 3 R, BB) and an RBI double by Matt Figueroa (2-3, R, RBI, BB, 2B), Nick Basto (2-3, R, 3 RBI, HR, BB) would belt a 3-run homer to center, cutting the lead to 11-5 with still no outs.  Robert Collin (2-2, R, RBI, 2 BB) would single, Keil Conway reached on a hit by pitch, and Matt Beauchemin singled to load them up yet again for the JV Falcons.  After an error by the Douglas pitcher and a 5-4-3 double play, the Falcons were down to their last out, looking at an 11-7 deficit, with a man on third.  But that is where the Eagles implosion began...six consecutive bases on balls later, the game was tied at 11-11, still with the bases loaded and still with two outs.  The game (and one of the wackiest 5th innings in Falcons history) would end there, however, after a pop up to the Douglas second baseman.

Game 2 started as badly for the Falcons as Game 1 had ended for the Eagles.  After the top half of the first inning was over, the JV Falcons had committed 6 errors and given up 4 hits, spotting the Eagles a 6-0 lead before bringing a batter to the plate.  By the end of the second inning, Douglas had extended the lead to 8-1, and things did not look good for the Baby Falcons.

However, a strong combined relief pitching effort from Kyle Schmidt (2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 K, 1 BB) and Robert Collin (1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1K, 1 BB) stopped the bleeding just long enough to allow the Falcons to get back in the game.  With three runs in the 3rd inning and 4 runs in the 4th inning, the Falcons found the score knotted at 8-8 to begin their final at bat in the bottom of the 5th inning.  After a hard lineout to third, a hit batsman and a fielder's choice, the Baby Falcons were down to their last out, with Rafael Betances on first base.  Another hit batsman would move Betances to second for sophomore Matt Figueroa (3-4, 2 R, RBI, 2B), who would deliver the game winning base hit, driving in Betances and completing the Falcons second dramatic comeback of the day.  Strong offensive performances were also delivered by Basto (2-2, 2 R, RBI, BB) and Collin (2-3, R, 3 RBI, 2B).