By Ted Waddell
LIVINGSTON MANOR — The home team Wildcats of Livingston Manor jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning of Monday’s non-league baseball game against the Tri-Valley Bears.
But then the Wildcats went into a slump during their next three turns at bat. The Bears began to rack up the runs and went on to post a 16-12 victory.
T-V (5-2) scored five runs in the second inning, highlighted by an RBI double by Dan Byrne.
The Bears added four runs in the third on RBI doubles by Andrew Yager and Tim Martin and two more in the fourth on another RBI double by Yager.
Trailing 11-2 in the bottom of the fifth, Manor (5-4) surged back with nine runs. Brandon Smith ripped a triple to tie the game at 11-11.
In the top of the sixth, the Bears sent two runners across the plate, and Byrne picked up his second double of the afternoon.
Back at the plate in the seventh, T-V scored three runs and Dan Edwards smacked a double.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Wildcats scored a run, and Troy Edwards ripped a triple.
Yager picked up the victory on the mound for T-V, while Manor’s Mike Hendrickson was charged with the loss.
Both teams had chances to score even more runs as the Bears loaded the bases in the third, and the Wildcats had bases-loaded situations in both the fourth and fifth innings.
“It was a tough game, and we fought hard,” Manor Co-Coach Chris Cosmark said. “We got two runs early, but we couldn’t hold on and went down big. But we fought back and never gave up.
“They had a couple of breaks down the stretch, and we couldn’t make it up,” he added.
T-V Coach John Rusin noted that “Andrew Yager hit the ball all over the place.”
“And after they came back to tie up the game 11-11, Danny Byrne had an incredible at-bat with runners at second and third,” Rusin said. “He caught a two-strike curveball and hit it down the right field line to score two runs.”