Bulldogs Pick Up Two Wins to Remain Unbeaten

By Clint Cox

The Marianna Bulldogs baseball squad is off to a great start after downing the Bainbridge Bearcats Monday night and Westover last Friday. With those two wins the Bulldogs upped their record to 6-0 on the season. They will be back in action this Friday night as they play host to Port St. Joe.

On Monday night in Marianna Dustin O’Hearn took the mound for the Bulldogs but saw Bainbridge take an early 1-0 lead. Marianna was scoreless in their first two at bats but O’Hearn kept the Bearcats in check in the second and third innings. In the bottom of the third Bradley Middleton drew a walk and Clayte Rooks was hit by a pitch. Austin Branch laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners over and then Colby Johnson was intentionally walked to load the bases. Jaren Bannerman grounded out to second but brought home Middleton to tie the game at 1-1. A throwing error on the Bearcats catcher allowed Marianna to take the lead as Rooks and Johnson came home to score. O’Hearn then helped his own cause with a RBI single to score Alex Bigale and give Marianna a 4-1 lead.

The Bulldogs made it a 5-1 game in the bottom of the fourth when Middleton scored from third on a catcher interference call. Bainbridge battled back with a run in the sixth and a run in the seventh to cut it to a 5-3 game. Austin Branch had come in to relieve O’Hearn back in the fourth and managed to strike out the last Bearcat to seal the Bulldog victory.

Last Friday night the Bulldogs traveled up to Bainbridge and in a close game pulled out an 8-7 win over Westover. Marianna fell behind early as Westover took a four run lead. Marianna countered with a couple of runs in the bottom of the second inning. O’Hearn scored on a RBI single from Anthony Williams and Zack Smith scored on a sacrifice fly by Middleton. Marianna pulled ahead in the bottom of the third when Bannerman scored on a double by Bigale. Two more Bulldogs scored on Westover errors and Marianna led 5-4. Westover pulled back ahead with two runs in the following inning to make it a 6-5 game. Marianna tied the game at 6-6 on a Bigale single that scored Johnson. The Bulldogs then rallied to win in the bottom of the seventh when they managed to load the bases and Johnson scored the winning run on a ground ball by Smith.