Beaver Area baseball’s season has finally kicked off and the Bobcats are battling through their highs and lows. The team currently sits at 4-6 with an 0-4 section record, but early games showed that there is still hope for postseason play.
The first home game for the Cats took place March 25 against the New Castle Hurricanes. While not a section opponent, the Beaver-New Castle matchup happens every season, so the teams are familiar with one another.
Cool temperatures did not deter fans and parents from attending this game, giving the team a nice crowd for their home opener. Junior Brady Mayo was starting pitcher for the Bobcats and recorded 12 strikeouts in five innings.
Senior Corbin Sevcik finished the game as pitcher and recorded three strikeouts and no hits. With this incredible game from both pitchers, the Bobcats took advantage of the shutout and were able to win the game 1-0 on a run by junior Ty Butler.
The Bobcats had one more home game before a stretch of away games against a lacking Freedom Area team March 28. Sophomore Travis Clear was starting pitcher and recorded only one hit against in two innings.
This trend continued for the Bobcats’ second pitcher sophomore Josh Derringer who also had only one hit recorded against him in two innings along with 3 strikeouts.
In contrast to the lackluster hitting by Freedom, Beaver Area was on fire running the bases. In the first inning, three Bobcat players managed runs, followed by 10 runs scored in the second, and two more scored in the fourth to mercy rule the Bulldogs three innings early.
Nine different Bobcat players recorded runs (Mayo, Butler, Sevcik, sophomore Max Tanner, senior Domenic Bumblis, freshman Derek Hughes, sophomore Tanner Wilson, junior RJ Sebek, and freshman David Corob). Seven more Bobcats recorded hits for the day for a final score of 15-0.
A game the next day against the Highlands Golden Rams showed similar result from the day before. The Bobcats started strong in the first inning with four runs, and after a break in second scored one run in each of the next five innings.
Sophomore Logan Hill pitched the first four innings for Beaver. He recorded two strikeouts and gave up only two runs. Sebek and Hughes followed Hill with only one run against each giving the Bobcats a 9-2 victory.
With all the rain during the first week of April, the Bobcats had most of their away games rescheduled for the week of April 5-13, forcing them to play five games in a row.
The first of these rescheduled games took place at Sewickley Academy April 5. The Cats once again dominated the game with 14 runs scored in the first four innings. Multiple players took advantage of the Panthers’ less than accurate pitching as eight Bobcat batters recorded hits against three different Sewickley Academy pitchers.
The Panthers did manage to score four runs in the fifth inning, but the Bobcats held on to their impressive lead and won 14-4. Beaver Area’s starting pitcher Butler struck out four of his six batters faced, and the following four pitchers (freshman Jackson Reese, Bumblis, Hughes, and sophomore Marshal Smith) accounted for five more strikeouts.
Despite the massive victories in the previous games, the Bobcats slipped into a losing streak after the Sewickley Academy game. These losses also mark the start of section play for the season, so points are needed if the Bobcats are looking to make a run for the postseason.
The first loss was an upsetting close game against the Hopewell Vikings April 6. Hopewell took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning and didn’t slow down after that making the game 4-1 at the end of the second in favor of the Vikings.
Starting pitcher Mayo, however, kept the third and fourth innings scoreless which allowed the Bobcats to score three runs in the top of the fifth inning and tie the game at 4-4. Unfortunately, the Vikings were able to score one more run at the bottom of the fifth and kept the Bobcats stranded in the next two innings resulting in a 5-4 loss.
Butler, Wilson, and Sebek were the only Bobcat players to record hits. Butler and Sebek had two RBIs each.
The second game against Hopewell was not as close. The Vikings scored 14 runs in the first three innings, immediately killing any hope the Bobcats had to avenge their loss the night before. Hughes, Tanner, Mayo and sophomore Aidan Skalko scored runs, but their efforts were unfortunately not enough. The final score was 15-5 and ended after the fifth inning.
April 8, the Bobcats played against the best team in the section, the Montour Spartans.
Despite the previous two days and previous two losses, the game started evenly with the score tied at 3-3 after three innings. Butler struck out three Montour players in his two innings pitched to keep the score even.
But the Spartans managed to pull away in the fifth inning by scoring five runs and ultimately won the game 10-4. Mayo, Hill, Tanner, and Wilson were the Bobcat players to tally runs.
Another matchup against the Spartans came the following day, this time away at Montour. Much like the previous game, the Bobcats kept the score close to start but ultimately gave up too many runs in the final innings.
Mayo started on the mound and recorded four strikeouts, four hits against, and four runs against in four innings pitched. Sevcik, following Mayo, struck out five of eight batters faced in the final two innings. The final score was 6-1.
The next game for the Bobcats is a section matchup against Central Valley today, April 15.