Bucktail baseball loses wild 29-14 game to Benton
By Bees O’Brien
FARWELL- Bucktail surprised Benton right out of the gates on Thursday. The winless Bucks took a shocking 10-7 lead on a Tigers team that made the District IV 1A finals last season, but then the Easter Bunny showed up and put an Easter egg curse on Bucktail.
Benton jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but the Bucks would battle back. The underdog Bucks scored three runs in each of their first two at bats, followed by a big 6-run top of the third inning from visiting Benton. The Bucks would counter with four more of their own runs in the bottom of the third inning to take a 10-7 lead. Then Peter Rabbit showed up in between the third and fourth innings.
Rotten eggs is all the Bucks would find, especially after a huge 9-run top of the fourth inning from the Tigers. The Benton rally included a grand slam from Emmitt Yost.
The Bucks would fall behind 16-10 before giving up five more runs in the fifth inning. The Bucks would counter with four more runs in their half of fifth inning to extend the game.
Down a touchdown and a two-point conversion heading into the game’s final inning, Bucktail would surrender 7 runs and fall behind 29-14. The Bucks failed to score in the bottom of the seventh to set the final.
The game would see both teams use a total of nine pitchers, with the Bucks using a total of six pitchers. The game would see a total of 8 batters hit by a pitch and 26 total walks, 13 by each team.
Brett Mason, Xander Shearer, Tyler Hillyer, Cael Dorman, Ethan Kalafut, Braylon Fantaski and Johnny Green all seen time on the mound for Bucktail. The Bucks pitching staff gave up 15 total hits to the Tigers, but Bucktail countered with 11 hits of their own.
Braylon Fantaski led the way by going 4 for 5 with 6 runs batted in. Brett Mason added a pair of hits. Keller Friese, Ethan Kalafut, Johnny Green, Gavin Pick and Cael Dorman each collected hits for Bucktail in the loss.
Now 0-3, Bucktail will be looking for their first victory on Tuesday when they host fellow Clinton County rivals Sugar Valley (0-3) in Farwell.
