After a thrilling 14-12 comeback win over Deerfield Academy on Friday evening, the Bears closed off their series against the #1 ranked team in Central New England with a Saturday doubleheader.

In game one, the Bears trailed 3-5 in the top of the 7th, but rallied to put runners on second and third with two outs. An error on a Seth Laureano ground ball knotted the game at 5-5 to send the game to extra innings. Seventh-grader Juju Martinez threw two solid innings for The Brook, which included a bases-loaded escape in the 8th, but Deerfield eventually won on a walk-off homer in the 9th for an 8-5 win.

The Bears bounced back from that loss and absolutely hit the tar out of the ball in game two, scoring in all six innings of a 19-10 victory.

In the top of the 1st, the Bears equaled their output over the previous nine innings with a five-run frame that began with an Aiden Ruiz double. Jordan Serrano followed with a single, and the bases were loaded with nobody out when Jayden Stroman was hit by a pitch. A wild pitch sent Ruiz dashing home for a 1-0 lead. Two pitches later, the Bears had a 4-0 lead when Logan Charboneau crushed a three-run homer to left. Three straight walks followed to Laureano, Isaiah Gibbs, and Juju Martinez, which chased Deerfield’s starter from the game. A Devon McMorris ground ball plated the final run of the inning.

Deerfield scored in the bottom of the 1st, a run the Bears got back when Stroman homered to right field in the 2nd, beginning a theme that continued all game. Both teams scored in every single inning, but whatever the Deerfield output was in the bottom of one inning, the Bears equaled or exceeded the total in the top of the next inning. Three Bears errors followed in the bottom of the 2nd, leading to three Deerfield runs, but the Bears again answered in the top of the 3rd with three runs of their own

In the 3rd, singles from Martinez and Nico Marino and a ground out from Ruiz each brought home a run as The Brook extended their lead to 9-4. Deerfield plated a pair of runs in the 3rd, but the Bears emphatically answered with seven runs in the top of the 4th on a Laureano single (1 run), Martinez single (1), Marino double (2), McMorris sacrifice bunt (1), Ruiz triple (1), and Serrano sacrifice fly (1). 16-6 Bears.

Deerfield struck for two runs in the 4th, but a Martinez double pushed the margin back to 10 at 18-8. A Stony Brook error led to a Deerfield run in the 5th, which Laureano neutralized with a 6th-inning single. 19-9 Bears. Deerfield opened their final at bat in the 6th with a double and single to bring across their last run, and Mateo Lopez bounced back by retiring three of the final four batters to close out the victory in the rubber match. Overall, the Bears averaged 38 runs on one of New England’s top teams over the three games.

Nick Parker earned the win, giving up 6 hits and 3 earned runs over 3.1 innings. Lopez went 2.2 innings, yielding just 3 hits and 1 earned run while ringing up a pair of strikeouts. The duo overcame a startling 9 Bear errors and 6 unearned runs to secure the vicotory. 4 RBIs from Martinez and 3 RBIs apiece from Marino and Charboneau fueled the offense.

The Bears are back in action on Saturday when they travel back to Massachusetts for a showdown with the Winchendon School.

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