Bucktail baseball ends 11-game skid, drops NoPo 23-7 in 4 innings
By Bees O’Brien
ULYSSES, PA- Bucktail entered their Saturday afternoon contest at Northern Potter on an 11-game slide that has seen them score just 15 runs during that span. It would take the Buck baseball team just 4 innings to amass a season-high 23 runs and pick up the 15-run, 4 inning victory 23-7 over the host Panthers.
Bucktail looked nothing like the team that fell 13-3 to Sugar Valley on Thursday and more like a team on a mission on Saturday. Bucktail played shorthanded with just 9 players suited, but numbers wouldn’t be a factor.
Bucktail took advantage of NoPo’s 11 errors and built a 12-0 lead heading into the bottom of the third inning. The home squad mounted a rally in their half of the third inning by scoring 7 runs of their own to cut the deficit to just 5 runs.
The Bucks responded in a huge way in their half of the fourth inning. They would score 11 runs in the inning, that was aided by Northern Potter pitchers beaning 6 Bucktail batters. They would also walk a total of 14 batters and 20 total free passes when counting the hit by pitches.
Northern Potter failed to extend the game in their half of the inning to set the final at 23-7. The 23 runs scored was the most by a Bucktail baseball team the past 3 seasons.
Bucktail collected 9 hits on the day led by Kyler Friese’s 2 for 4 day with a double, 4 RBI’s and 4 runs scored. Braylon Fantaski also collected a multi-hit day with a double, single, 2 RBI’s and 4 runs scored.
Jake Leiter put forth his best effort of the season for Bucktail. The Bucks’ newcomer to the program collected a
pair of hits, 2 RBI’s and a run scored.
Ethan Charcalla, Jeremy Gallagher and Cameron Kolasa also picked up base hits for Bucktail. Brett Mason would score 4 runs, Talan Ditty would score 3 runs, while walking 5 times on the day. Xander Shearer would cross the plate three times. All 9 Bucktail players scored at least 1 run in the win.
Xander Shearer picked up the win on the hill, while Brett Mason provided relief work. Shearer and Mason combined to fan 7 Panther batters, while allowing just 6 hits.
Northern Potter, out of District 9 fell to 1-8 on the season. Bucktail improved to 2-14 and can eclipse their 2022 win total on Tuesday in their season finale against Columbia Montour Vo-Tech.
