In rain-shortened tourney at B-R, host Wolverines open door late vs. Otto-Eldred, C-R propels ahead of Bloomfield off Shaffer’s RBI single to capture victories; Consolation, Championship cancelled

BOLIVAR — The rain was absolutely relentless across Friday and Saturday entering the weekend. With the postponements and make-up games beginning to pile up heading into one of the final stretches before Sectionals, it also comes with an elongated, heavy grind to the finish line for most teams in Allegany County.

For the Wolverines of Bolivar-Richburg, they’re amongst the group, with Saturday morning’s game against the Otto-Eldred Terrors being the first of a seven-game stretch in just over a week’s time.

Talk about putting your nose to the grindstone.

It was an early command of the contest that allowed Bolivar-Richburg ahead of the Terrors. Soon after, the visitors sliced the deficit right down the middle upon the entrance of the homestretch to put the pressure on. But the Wolverines offense came through in a big way in the late stages, posting a floodgate-shattering sixth inning, led by Tavyn MacDonell and his RBI triple, to ensure their advantage remained unaltered in the end, as they went past Otto-Eldred with a 7-2 win to open up the first of two tournament games.

With Maddox Davison getting the Wolverines (6-2) off on a fantastic start with his two shutout innings out of the gate, the offense broke through right behind it with the game’s opening run in the bottom of the second before the Terrors immediately tied the game with one of their own a half-inning later. Special teams were utilized once again in the top of the third to give the hosts the lead back in the third inning before the offense pieced together a tremendous finish down the stretch.

In the final two at-bats of the game, Bolivar-Richburg built onto their lead behind the guidance of MacDonell, who accounted for two of the five runs with a sacrifice fly to the outfield in the fifth, leading up to his unloading of a crushing triple to put away the game for good.

In all, the Wolverines totaled seven runs off seven hits at the dish, with MacDonell and Braden Zilker each recording two hits. Waide Karnuth had a double, while Landon Barkley and James Gleason both had a hit to add into the mix.

On the mound, Maddox Davison kept the door shut as much as possible against the Terrors, going all seven innings to register the complete game victory with eight strikeouts and two walks.

To wrap up an early afternoon of baseball on the turf, it was another clutch sequence in the final stages of battle between Cuba-Rushford and Bloomfield in the midst of a pitcher’s duel between Hayden Schappacher and Joey Walsh of the Bombers. With a tight game developing down to the wire and little room for error, it was a finish that only required one.

Down to their final out in the inning with the go-ahead run standing on the middle bag, Adam Shaffer came through and delivered the goods with a mammoth base hit into left field to provide the Rebels with the game’s final lead change, as they then turned their attention to the field where they proceeded to dish out a rapid 1-2-3 of Bloomfield to close up shop and claim the 3-2 edge over the Bombers.

After their opposition struck first in their opening at-bats, Cuba-Rushford (4-4) issued some early contact leading up to a third inning that saw them nearly complete one full revolution through their lineup. Along with the collection of three big hits to help lay the foundation down, the Rebels capitalized on a colossal error by the defense to score two go-ahead runs.

In between it all: A phenomenal outing from Hayden Schappacher on the mound, as he kept Bloomfield at bay for as long as he could with three straight shutout innings after the Bombers initially took a 1-0 lead — two of those frames courtesy of a quick 1-2-3 on the field, as the freshman struck out seven and walked three in his six innings of work.

“For Hayden being a freshman, he sure pitched like an upperclassman. He was tough all day on the mound, and even when the defense behind him made a mistake, he rebounded with a strikeout or a good pitch with a ground ball,” said Rebels coach Pat Wight. “Offensively, we had some solid at-bats once we adjusted to the curveball. They tied the game late before we responded with Adam’s big RBI in the last inning. Eli (Sleggs) then came in and shut the door.”

With the Bombers climbing back into the game in the bottom of the fifth on a game-tying fielder’s choice, the Rebels held on tight all the way to the end when the action transitioned into the seventh inning. Staring two outs down in the face, the team in blue and gray held their ground and beamed through with magnificence, as Adam Shaffer ultimately hand-delivered the win behind his go-ahead single to score Eli Sleggs before the latter of the Rebels came in and deadbolted the door shut with a rapid fire 1-2-3 of Bloomfield on the hill to end it.

Despite only scoring three runs, the Rebels had a solid day of production at the plate, totaling eight hits — three of them belonging to their leading hitter, Lucas Haskins, who went 3-for-4. Shaffer finished with two hits, while Sleggs, Schappacher and Carson Schunk all had one to chip in.

Sleggs handed out a strikeout in his seventh inning appearance on the hill along the way. The two Rebels hurlers combined to hold Bloomfield to just five hits. In return, the Rebels were up against a masterful performance from Bloomfield’s Joey Walsh from start to finish, as he went the full seven-inning distance with 11 strikeouts and two walks.

The Consolation and Championship games scheduled for later in the day were officially cancelled, due to the ongoing rain shower. Cuba-Rushford and Bolivar-Richburg’s next clash on May 16 will count as the tournament’s Championship game, as well as serving as an Allegany County League matchup on the Wolverines’ Senior Night.

For now, both teams are back on the field at 5 p.m. Monday night, weather permitting, with the Wolverines playing host to Port Allegany, while Cuba-Rushford heads to Andover to partake in doubleheader action with host Andover/Whitesville.

Otto-Eldred 001 000 1 – 2 7 1

Bolivar-Richburg 011 014 X – 7 7 1

O-E – Jaden Prince (LP) (3K, 7BB), Michael Sheeler (6) and Manning Splain.

B-R – Maddox Davison (WP) (CG, 8K, 2BB) and Tavyn MacDonell.

Cuba-Rushford 002 000 1 – 3 8 2

Bloomfield 100 010 0 – 2 5 4

C-R – Hayden Schappacher (WP) (7K, 3BB), Eli Sleggs (7) (K) and Adam Shaffer.

BLO – Joey Walsh (LP) (CG, 11K, 2BB) and Levi Gumaer.