Comeback Kids
Bears come from behind to win first two Tournament games

Chad Wilson Photo NICE PLAY-- Freshman shortstop Ryan Smith runs down a fly ball in shallow center field during the Bears' win over Arp last Thursday afternoon in Grand Saline.

Young teams don't normally compete too well against more established teams nor do they come from behind to win ball games, but these Bears continue to write their own story.

Playing in the Grand Saline- Canton Tournament the Bears opened pool play last Thursday against Arp, a normally powerful Class 2A team.

Brownsboro's Collin Wilson led off the game with a hit to right field to kick things off for the first inning. Logan Bryan reached base on an error and advanced to second on an overthrow at first.

With runners in scoring position Ryan Epperson lined a shot to second base that was miss played, scoring both Wilson and Bryan to give the Bears a 2-0 lead.

In the bottom half of the first Arp answered right back scoring three runs to take the lead, cashing in on two walks and a hit batsmen to begin the game.

In the bottom of the third inning the Tigers added to their lead scoring two more runs to increase the score to 5-2 heading into the fourth.

Chad Wilson Photo COMPLETE GAME-- Shaking at times and lights out at others Senior Logan Bryan picked up his first win of the season in seven innings of action against Arp last Thursday.

Beginning the inning at the bottom of their lineup the Bears bats' ignited.

After a strike out to lead off the inning Monty Shultz lined a pitch to left field for a double to begin the Bears rally. Wilson followed Shultz's lead by getting on base to put runners on the corners for pitcher Logan Bryan.

Bryan grounded to third but the ball was misplayed as one run scored and Bryan was safe at first.

Trailing 3-5 with two outs Keaton Parsell doubled to left scoring both men on base to tie the game at five. Clayton Boyd followed Parsell with a double that needed just one hope to hit the center field fence.

Leading 6-5 after the Boyd double, freshman Ryan Smith sent the first pitch of the at bat down the right field line scoring Boyd as he raced around for a triple.

Arp fought back in the bottom of the fifth inning scoring one run to cut the Bears lead to 7-6 heading into the sixth inning.

Chad Wilson Photo IT'S OUTTA HERE!-- Ryan Epperson connects on a solo homerun during the Bears' comeback win over Rains last Friday evening. Epperson also homered in the Bears' come from behind victory over Arp on Thursday night.

Bryan led off the sixth inning with a hit to right field before Ryan Epperson sent an 0-1 pitch to center for a single.

Like his last at bat Parsell made good with runners in scoring position as he doubled to left center field scoring both runners to give the Bears a 9-6 lead. Parsell advanced to third on the throw home before being singled in by Boyd for a four point lead, 10- 4.

The Tigers would not go away as they scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth to draw within one point of the Bears.

With one out and runners on first and third Ryan Epperson crushed a 2-2 pitch 345+ feet over the right-center field fence to give the Bears a 13-9 lead.

With the four point cushion Bryan remained on the mound for the Bears and retired Arp in just four batters in their final at bat of the game.

Chad Wilson Photo THREE INNINGS, SIX K'S-- Against Rains, Keaton Parsell recorded six strike outs in just three innings of work.

Bryan picked up his first win of the season while striking out eight batters, hitting six batters and walking 12 men.

Overall the Bears totaled 15 hits against Arp, six for extra bases. Freshman Ryan Smith was 3-4 with a triple, double and one RBI.

In their second pool play game the Bears faced off against Rains on Friday afternoon.

Taking the field to begin the game the Bears found themselves in an early hole by allowing 2 runs to cross the plate in the first inning.

In the bottom half of the first the Bears managed to cut Rains' lead in half by scoring one run on a Clayton Boyd double to right field.

Things got worse for the Bears in the second inning as Rains took advantage of 2 Bears errors to mount a 6-1 lead heading into the home half of the inning.

Brad McDonald led off the bottom of the second inning with a single to center field before scoring two batters later on a single by Monty Shultz.

Trailing 6-2 heading into the third inning the Bears were once again plagued by the error bug, recording 4 errors in the inning resulting in the Wildcats taking an 11-2 lead.

Through the first three innings of play the Bears committed eight errors while Keaton Parsell threw 105 pitches on the mound.

Parsell struck out 2 batters each inning for a strike out total of 6 in the game but was on the hook for the loss if the Bears could not rally in the remaining four innings.

Rally they did as in the top of the fifth inning the Bears scored six runs to cut the Wildcat lead to 12-8.

Collin Wilson led the inning off with a hit to center field before pinch runner Tracy Sims advanced to second on a balk. Two outs later Sims came in to score as Parsell singled to left. Boyd doubled to center setting runners up in scoring position for Ryan Smith.

Smith came through big as he doubled to center field driving in both runs to cut the lead to 12-5. McDonald drove in Smith with a bloop to right, before coming around to score on a hit by Daniel Suggs.

Following a hit by Shultz, Collin Wilson took the plate for the second time in the inning and came through once again singling to center field before a Rains pitching change.

Ryan Epperson took the mound for the Bears to start the sixth inning and shut the Wildcats down, allowing the Bears to continue their rally.

It was Epperson who kept the rally alive as he nailed a 1-1 pitch 340+ feet to right center field to make the score 12-9. It was Epp's second homerun in as many games.

Epperson controlled the `Cats in the seventh inning striking out the first two batters he faced before he teamed up with Parsell, playing catcher, to record the final out of the inning as a Wildcat tried scoring on a pass ball at the plate.

Down by three, 12-9, with just three outs to go in the game the Bears already had made an impressive comeback. Their comeback was not complete however as they still were looking for their fifth win of the season.

Suggs led off the inning in the 8th spot with a hit before Wilson reached base on an error one batter later. The runners advanced to second and third with a pass ball before the Bears recorded their second out of the inning.

With first base open the `Cats walked Epperson to load the bases for Parsell. Parsell singled to left, scoring two runs to draw the Bears within one point of Rains, 11- 12.

On the first pitch of his at bat Clayton Boyd made the Bear comeback complete as he tripled to center field scoring Epperson and Parsell to give the Bears the 13-12 win.

Brownsboro totaled 17 hits against Rains while just five batters struck out in 41 at bats.

Following their win over Rains the Bears waited 30 minutes and played host Grand Saline.