Senior Eli Crupi and Bohdi Nelson hyped up their senior night a day early as the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears baseball team got behind the duo’s pitching to top visiting Ketchikan 5-4 on Friday at Adair-Kennedy Field.
“We made it hard on ourselves but we did what we had to do to win the ball game and they did that, so we’ll take it,” JDHS coach Chad Bentz said. “Crupi did a great job on the mound tonight. He attacked the strike zone and their hitters. It was fun to watch him.”
Crupi started the game and went five innings, allowed three hits and two runs and struck out six batters. Nelson relieved for two innings, allowed two hits and two runs and struck out two.
The Crimson Bears put the first runs across in the bottom of the second inning. Landon Simonson walked, senior Joe Aline singled, Christian Nelson walked and Brandon Casperson singled to score Simonson and Aline for 2-0.
Ketchikan tied the game in the top of the fifth inning as Bubba Williams singled in Thomas Kroscavage and Trevor Sayer singled in Colby Hanchey. The Kings took a 3-2 lead in the top of the sixth as Kroscavage singled and reached second on a passed ball. Pinch runner JJ Parker replaced Kroscavage and advanced to third on an error and scored on a passed ball.
JDHS regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth as Lamar Blatnick walked, Kaleb Campbell doubled and B. Nelson doubled to score both for a 4-3 lead. Simonson walked and Joseph Aline put down a bunt to advance Nelson and Simonson into scoring positions. C. Nelson hit a fly ball out to right field and B. Nelson tagged up to score for 5-3.
“Joe Aline had a great night at the plate with some quality at bats,” Bentz said. “He had a great sac bunt late in the game that put us in scoring position and that we were able to take advantage of.”
Kayhi’s final run came in the top of the seventh inning as Hanchey walk and moved to third on an error. After two fly ball outs a single by Kegan Moore brought Hanchey home to cut the lead to 5-4.
“We need to continue to learn from our mistakes, flush them and move forward and hopefully don’t make them as much,” Bentz said.
B. Nelson and Casperson led the Crimson Bears with two runs batted in. Campbell had two hits, B. Nelson, Aline and Casperson one each.
Van Mcgarrigan pitched six innings for Kayhi, allowed five hits and five runs, walked four batters and struck out four.
JDHS will play a double-header against Kayhi today at Adair Kennedy Field. First game is at 3 p.m. with senior night for the Crimson Bears following. Game two is scheduled for 6 p.m.
