New Market designated hitter Zach Cook singled home pinch runenr J.D. Veney in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Shockers past Clover Hill, 8-7, at Rebel Field Thursday.
The win dropped the Bucks (19-4) a game behind first-place Stuarts Draft (20-3) in the RCBL standings. Clover Hill plays at New Market again Saturday, before a showdown with the D'backs Sunday at the Diamond Club. New Market moved to 11-10 and sits in fourth place.
On Thursday, Bridgewater College teammates John Bayse and Jeremy Leake combined for the winning effort on the mound against the Bucks, who tallied eight hits, but failed to take advantage of nine walks and two hit batters. Clover Hill stranded 14 runners in the contest.
In the first, the Bucks left a runner on when Addison Bowman singled to right with two outs, but Bayse fanned Shane Banks. In the second, Aaron Lough and J.R. Rohrbough drew consecutive walks to open the at bat, followed by a sacrifice bunt from Dustin Bowman. Bayse, however, struck out Chris Cofer and got Andrew Weaver to ground out to shortstop to end the threat.
The Shockers then took the lead in the bottom of the frame, when Kevin Rush poked a one-out single to center, moved to second on a walk to Zach Stiles and to third on an infield single from Billy Foley. Cook's single to left gave the Shockers a 1-0 lead, with Clover Hill starter Justin Hill getting Michael Chrisman to ground into a double play to avoid further damage.
The Bucks bounced right back in the third, when Drew Easter led off with a ground rule double to left and Bayse walked Christian Simmers. Two outs later, Bayse walked Aaron Lough to load the bases and Rohrbough singled up the middle to give the Bucks a 2-1 edge.
The Shockers retook the lead in the bottom of the third, on a two-run double to right from Josh Veney, before Clover Hill tied the game in the fourth on a bases-loaded walk to Banks.
With the score tied 3-3, the Bucks surged ahead in the fifth. With one out, Dustin Bowman was hit by a pitch. Courtesy runner Aaron Martin then stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a single to left from Weaver — who scored when Chrisman could not handle Easter's liner to right. Easter later scored on a wild pitch for a 6-3 lead.
But the Shockers rallied against Hill and reliever Kevin Chandler in the bottom of the fifth. Veney led off with a double, followed by a walk to Jeremy Hafer, which brought on Chandler from the bullpen. After Rush struck out, Stiles reached on an error and Veney scored on a wil pitch. Foley then singled and Cook reached on an error, before Chrisman plated a run with a bloop single over the drawn-in infield. Adam Folzt added a sacrifice fly as the Shockers moved ahead, 7-6.
The Bucks tied the game in the seventh, when Aaron Martin reached on an error and scored on a sacrifice fly from Easter.
The Bucks left the go-ahead run in scoring position in the eighth, when Lough singled and stole second with one out. Leake, who came on for Bayse in the seventh, struck out Rohrbough and Dustin Bowman to keep the contest tied. The Shockers left two runners on in the eighth, with Chandler getting Hafer to fly out with the go-ahed run on third.
In the ninth, Martin slapped a leadoff single to left, but was thrown out trying to steal second .Easter later walked with two outs, but Leake got Simmers to fly out to left to set up the Shockers for the walk-off win.
In the bottom of the ninth, Chandler issued a leadoff walk to Rush, with J.D> Veny coming in to pinch run after a sacrifice bunt from Stiles. Foley followed with a single to left and Cook poked a single through the right side of the infield for the win.
Leake (3 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 3K) picked up the win in relief of Bayse (6 IP, 6 R, 6 ER, 6 H, 8 BB, 2 HBP, 6 K). Chandler (4.1 IP, 3 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 2 K) took the loss to fall to 4-3. Hill (4 IP, 5 R, 4 ER, 7 H, 3 BB, 1 K) took a no-decision.
Foley had three hits, Cook had two hits and two RBIs and Veney had a pair of doubles and two RBIs for the Shockers. Lough had two hits and Rohrbough had two RBIs for the Bucks.
