Bearcats pull out comeback win

By Kris Childs

The Cairo Bearcats evened their record at 2-2 Tuesday when they beat the Keytesville Tigers in comeback fashion.

Cairo drove in 5 runs in the top of the first inning and Keytesville managed 4 in their half of the first frame as well. Keytesville scored 3 more in the bottom of the second to take a 7-5 lead. Cairo regained the lead in the fourth with 3 more runs but gave it up in the bottom of inning 2 and again trailed 9-8. The Tigers added 2 insurance runs in the fifth inning giving them an 11-8 lead. But no lead is safe in baseball and Cairo proved that in the sixth when they narrowed the lead to two runs and took the lead in the seventh plating two more.

The game tying run came with two outs in the top of the seventh when Aaron Barratt hit an RBI triple. The game winning hit came off the bat of Andy Gravitt when he hit a ground ball to third base giving Aaron Barratt enough time to reach home safely before the tag could be applied.

Andy Gravitt picked up the win in relief for Cairo pitching two innings giving up only one hit.

At the plate Aaron Barratt went 2-3 with a triple, two walks 3 runs and 1 RBI. Brendan Rutherford went 3-3 scoring 3 runs and 1 RBI. Colby Dodd and Craig Prather both went 2-4 with 2 RBI’s.

“We made a lot of mistakes this game to put ourselves in the situation we were in late in the game, but we found a way to win late,” said Cairo Coach Schleicher on his team’s comeback victory. “That is an important part of playing winning baseball. You have to be able to overcome mistakes and find a way to win anyway. I was really proud of the way we battled back several times to come out of it with a victory.”
Cairo is now 2-2 and will play at Community R-6 this Thursday.