The Bureau Valley baseball team finished off a doubleheader sweep over Stark County with a dramatic finish Saturday in Manlius.

Storm pitcher Dylan Howlett, who was covering first base on an infield hit to the right side, threw out Stark County’s Kaedon Steelman on a bang-bang play at the plate to end the game, giving the Storm (9-7, 6-0) its second 4-3 win of the day in Lincoln Trail Conference play.

“Exciting is a word for it,” BV coach Ryan Schisler said. “Glad that Dylan had the awareness and our guys were communicating with him to make that play. We said before the games winning is the only thing that matters so great to see us get through two tough ones and come out on the right side.”

Blake Foster’s complete game effort carried the Storm to another 4-3 win in Game 1.

Stark County turned the tables on the Storm at the softball diamond with a 15-3, 11-2 sweep.

Baseball

BV 4-4, Stark County 3-3: Drake Taylor put the Storm on the board in the third inning of Game 1 with a two-run triple to left field. He scored on a sac fly by Foster to make it 3-0.

“I put the barrel on the ball and it got past him and scored the runs,” Taylor said. “Close game. We were up early. We kept hitting the ball right at people. Blake pitched a really good game.”

“Drake came through with a big one,” Schisler said. “That’s what you hope from guys who have been here before. Those three - Drake, Blake and Tyce (Barkman) - are returning starters and you expect them to step up.”

The Rebels got one run back in the fourth only to have the Storm tack on an insurance run with the help of a balk, bringing home Brandon Carrington to give the Storm a 4-1 lead.

Stark County made things interesting in the sixth with Ben Browning lining a two-run double to center.

Foster allowed one hit in the seventh, but finished out the game on 95 pitches by punching out the side. He scattered seven hits and two walks while striking out 10.

“Foster pitched his butt off and closed out the game for us. Any time you can see your guy finish seven, that’s great,” Schisler said.

The Storm had just three hits in the game, two by Aiden Litherland.

In Game 2, Bureau Valley’s winning rally in the sixth-inning started with two outs. Dakari Martin singled on a pop fly to right, Barkman was hit by a pitch and Carrington walked to load the bases. Logan Philhower singled on a hard ground to short, scoring Martin with the go-ahead run.

Steelman singled with one out for the Rebels in the seventh. He took second on a ground out to Howlett before being thrown out at home to end the game.

Howlett picked up the win with 1⅓ scoreless innings in relief. Philhower struck out 13 in 5⅔ innings.

Taylor led the Storm at the plate, going 3 for 4 with an RBI.

Softball

Stark County 15-11, BV 3-2: The Rebels scored 15 runs on 14 hits to win Game 1, 15-3, in five innings.

Six Rebels had two hits each, including Hallie Newton and Kenna Sparks, who each had a home run and a double, and Sophie Finnegan, who drove in three runs and doubled.

Danicka Benavidez and Avery Bopes each had two hits for the Storm. Katrina Wahl was 1 for 3 with an RBI.

Stark County broke open Game 2 with six runs in the sixth on the way to an 11-2 victory to complete the sweep.

The Storm scored twice in the first inning to make it a 3-2 game, but were shut out the rest of the way by Stark County’s Brooklyn Ostrowski, who scattered six hits and struck out seven. Both runs were unearned.

Kadyn Haage led the Storm with a 2-for-3 game out of the leadoff spot. Benavidez and Wahl each had a hit and an RBI.

Finnegan and Sparks doubled once again for Stark County.