SOUTH ELGIN – Batavia stranded the potential tying run at third base to end Friday’s Upstate Eight Conference crossover baseball game against South Elgin.

Once Bulldogs coaches finished saying their piece about a 5-4 loss, the rest of the team stayed on the field of its own accord.

Trailing, 5-0, after three innings, Batavia nearly rallied behind reliever Anthony Carby’s 32⁄3 innings of shutout relief and an aggressive yet patient attack. The Bulldogs, if they hadn’t already, simply wanted each other to know this was something to build upon.

“It shows that even if we’re down, we’re not just going to roll over and take a loss. We’re going to fight back until the very end,” senior first baseman Nick Pappas said. “And that’s something that can’t be coached. That’s just something a team has, so I’m very proud of my team for that.”

Batavia (6-5, 4-3 UEC River) started sluggishly against the Storm (7-2, 5-1 UEC Valley). Bulldogs right-hander Luke Horton surrendered a leadoff triple to Ryan Ford, igniting South Elgin's two-run first inning.
In the top half, Batavia had a runner picked off first base with two outs and its cleanup hitter, Pappas, at bat.

Sophomore right fielder Laren Eustace’s hustle double leading off the fourth created Batavia’s first run. Catcher Steve Durham’s sacrifice fly to deep right made the score 5-1, but the Bulldogs largely could not get comfortable against the Storm’s Alex Wolfe, who spaced three hits and a run in five innings in his first start of the season.

Luckily for Batavia, South Elgin looked just as off-balance against Carby, a senior left-hander who had been a one-inning specialist until Friday. With his bullpen tapped from games every day this week – and another scheduled for today – Bulldogs coach Matt Holm wanted to give Carby an extended look. Carby made the most of it.

Entering the game shortly after David Palmer and Jake Buhman reached Horton for back-to-back home runs in the third, Carby immediately showcased his cut fastball. The pitch that was mostly responsible for his seven strikeouts put Carby ahead in the count against Wolfe and David Goins, both of whom he fanned with a runner on second base to end the inning.

Carby threw one curveball during his outing. The rest were fastballs and cut fastballs, the latter of which he added to his arsenal within the past year.

“If I’m throwing to a righty, my ball moves more to the outside of the plate, and I was having trouble throwing it in to righties,” Carby said. “So I worked on developing the cutter, because it’s designed to get them on the inside.”

Admittedly, a raucous group of South Elgin students were grating on some Bulldogs with personal attacks and combative comebacks to Batavia fans’ cheers.

In that respect, Carby got them on the outside, too, especially when he ended the fourth and sixth with successive strikeouts with runners in scoring position.

“Just little stuff like that (trash talking) got me fired up,” Carby said. “I wanted to put them away and show it. Instead of talking, show it on the mound.”

Batavia further quieted South Elgin supporters by denting the Storm’s bullpen. With Micah Coffey aboard to lead off the sixth, Pappas smacked a 2-0 fastball over the fence in left center to chase Wolfe and draw the Bulldogs to within 5-3.

Coffey, who joined Eustace with two hits, slyly snuck a bunt single down the third-base line to load the bases against Jake Hicks with no outs in the seventh, but a run-scoring double play was all Batavia mounted after that.

“Earlier in the week ... from the mound to the field to the batter’s box, whatever we wanted to do, we could do,” Holm said. “Then the last three days, against three good baseball teams, we’ve struggled. We’ve got some work to do. I think we’re getting better, but we’ve got to prove that.”

Meeting in short right field before boarding the bus for home, his players seemed to agree.

“We became more aggressive at the plate, took better swings and kept our heads up,” Pappas said. “Unfortunately, we started that too late.”