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Parkway's Braxton Ford (19) recieves a congratulatory water bath from teammate Brayden Bruns after Ford's game-winning single in the bottom of the seventh inning in the Panthers' 7-6 win over Marion Local at Don Black Field.
ROCKFORD - Braxton Ford struck out in his first three at-bats for Parkway on Wednesday.
For his fourth time up, he had a chance to bring home the winning run with the bases loaded and two out against Marion.
Talk about the perfect time to come through.
Ford's hard grounder in the gap between third and short allowed Xavier Samples to score the winning run as the Panthers rallied for a 7-6 win over the Flyers in ACME baseball action at Don Black Field.
Parkway (2-2) led 3-0 after one inning and 5-1 after three before the Flyers (0-5) battled back and took a 6-5 lead with three runs in the top of the fifth.
"We got a little stagnant in the middle innings," said Parkway coach Bryan Schoenleben. "We had some guys coming back from vacation, so getting them going was big."
The Panthers opened the scoring with Devon Crouch belting a two-run double, and later Ben Bates brought Brayden Bruns home with a groundout.
After Marion scored a run in the second on an error, Parkway plated two more in the third as Bruns came home when a Crouch single got misplayed. Bates got another RBI groundout to make it 5-1.
Marion Local coach Max Link congratulates catcher Ethan Heitkamp coming around third after Heitkamp hit a solo home run against Parkway on Wednesday.
The Flyers started to come back in the fourth, plating two runs on an RBI single by Bryant Meier and an RBI fielder's choice by Isaac Muhlenkamp. In the fifth, Carson Kirby, who came on in relief after Caiden Berry pitched four innings of four-hit baseball, got the first out before Ethan Heitkamp followed with a solo home run to left. Drew Lause followed with a single and Griffin Bruns walked, and an errant pickoff throw to first allowed Lause to score the tying run.
Schoenleben brought on Brayden Bruns, who gave up a wild pitch to score Griffin Bruns before getting the final two outs.
"These guys are young, and it's nice to see them put up hits and runs like that," said Flyers coach Max Link. "We ran the bases really well."
Brayden Bruns retired the side in order in the sixth and seventh. Meier relieved Griffin Bruns in the sixth and got out of two-on jam with a groundout to end the inning.
But Jacoby Triplett led off the seventh for Parkway with a double and Xavier Samples legged out an infield single, putting runners on the corners. A great catch in short left prevented the runners from moving up, but Meier hit Brayden Bruns to load the bases for Crouch, who was 2-for-3 with two RBI on the game. Crouch singled to left to bring home Triplett to tie the game.
Link called for Ethan Osterholt to try and end the jam, and Osterholt quickly got the second out when Bates popped up to catcher Ethan Heitkamp. Ford then stepped in to try and change his luck.
Marion Local's Ian Rindler makes the force out on Parkway's Ben Bates.
Osterholt worked the count to 1-2 before Ford belted a grounder deep in the shortstop's territory. The throw was well late as Samples dashed home to end the game.
"He was off for a week for vacation and was just coming back," Schoenleben. "Every at-bat he was struggling. He was coming in, working on and looking for advance on what to do. He just kept at it."
"At the end of the day, it came down to free bases," said Link. "(Parkway) did the little things to get guys in and made it hurt. We have some little things to work on, but overall, I'm upset with the loss, but happy with the heart we put out there."
Crouch, who was making his first appearance as a catcher in over four years, went 3-for-4 with three RBI.
"Devon isn't a catcher, but we needed a catcher, so he came up big tonight," said Schoenleben. "And he got his bat going. It's been slacking a bit. There was a lot of little things that we did right when we needed to."
Troy Miller added a 2-for-2 night for the Panthers.
Parkway is back in action tonight with a road trip to Celina for a 6 p.m. first pitch.
