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Mountain Lions comeback falls short
The Mountain Ridge baseball team found itself in dire straits Tuesday as it played host to the Brophy Broncos in the third Desert Valley region game of the season.
The Mountain Lions rebounded from a difficult start and clawed their way back into the game, but the comeback fell a few feet short in the bottom of the seventh inning as Mountain Ridge fell, 5-2.
Coach Tommy Eubanks said he was pleased with the team's effort, though he was disappointed in the result.
"I told them after it was over that they played well enough to be in the game, but not well enough to win," Eubanks said. "Early on, we were having a tough time making adjustments, and we just dug ourselves into a hole."
Mountain Ridge (11-9-1, 0-3) benefitted from a gutsy performance by junior pitcher Parker Markel, who looked solid during the first half of the game despite battling wildness throughout and pitching his way out of several jams. He allowed a walk and a hit to open the second inning, but escaped having only surrendered one run.
Brophy (15-6, 3-0) broke through in the fourth inning, however, with a 2-run home run from junior catcher Beau Maggi. In what would become a constant theme throughout the game, Mountain Ridge avoided further damage on the strength of its defense. Senior shortstop Kyle Stiner turned an impressive double play to end the inning, the first of several great plays he would make in the game.
Sophomore third baseman Cody Gray also had a great game defensively, which Eubanks said did not surprise him in the least.
"Cody has been doing an excellent job for us all season," Eubanks said. "We had a hole at the position we needed to fill, and he stepped up for us. He has been a defensive stopper at third all year."
After Brophy added two more runs in the fifth, the Mountain Lions found themselves down by five with two innings left. Brophy junior pitcher Trent Stevenson baffled the Mountain Lion offense throughout the game, but in the bottom of the sixth, Mountain Ridge finally broke through. Stiner led off the inning with a screaming double down the left field line. Junior leftfielder Ryan Skube then launched a pitch into orbit, bringing Mountain Ridge within three.
After a scoreless seventh inning for Brophy, Mountain Ridge continued their comeback attempt. After a walk and a hit put two men on base with two outs, Stiner came to the plate representing the tying run, with the red hot Skube waiting on deck. Stiner came very close to tying the game with a drive to deep center field that appeared on its way out. However, the ball - and the comeback - died in the wind, a few feet short of the fence.
"I'm happy that we got back into the game, but man, it would have been nice to have gotten the win," Eubanks said. "But hey, that's mother nature, right?"
Though the defense shined in the game against Brophy, Eubanks said defense is the area he considers his team's biggest weakness this season.
"As a team we hit .370 and our pitching has been good, but up until this game our defense has been a problem," Eubanks said. "I've been telling the guys all year that they need to concentrate on making plays on defense and let the pitching and hitting win the game for them. This was the first error-free game that I can remember us having, and hopefully we can build on that."
Mountain Ridge will play host to St. Mary's (8-12-2, 0-3) Tuesday at 3:45 p.m
