On Saturday afternoon, the baseball team traveled to Connecticut for a match-up with the Salisbury School.

The Bears took a 1-0 lead in the top of the 1st on a Larry Hotaling III two-out double that plated Jordan Serrano (single). The Bears extended their 1-0 margin in the 5th when Travis Stroud II singled to chase home Seth Laureano (single). One batter later, a Mateo Lopez groundout allowed Aaron Artsen (single) to dash home with a 3-0 lead.

The Knights began a rally when they put their first three batters on base in the bottom of the 5th, capped by a two-run double that cut into the Bears’ margin to 3-2. A two-out, two-run home run in the 6th moved the hosts within three outs of a 4-3 comeback victory, but the Bears had a rally of their own in them.

Laureano opened the 7th with a triple to center on an 0-2 pitch. Alex Baaden was hit by the next pitch and Juju Martinez walked to load the bases with nobody out. A lineout and pop up followed as the Bears stared down the prospect of their final out, but they had one more arrow in their quiver as Aiden Ruiz dug into the batter’s box. On the second pitch Ruiz saw, the sophomore scorched a line drive to right field that knotted the score. An error by the right fielder allowed two more runs to come in to give the Bears a 6-4 advantage.

In the last of the 7th, Chris Nell induced a trio of groundouts, needing just 13 pitches to secure the win for the Bears. Nell allowed no hits and rung up a strikeout in his 1.1 innings of work.

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