Cairo finish season with double wins

Cairo’s fall baseball season ended this week with promise toward the spring season finishing with a 10-2 record overall. Cairo began the week facing the current Class 1 State Champions, the Sturgeon Bulldogs, which would seemingly be a good game to judge what level the Bearcats are playing at currently. The Cairo crowd liked what they saw on Thursday after the Bearcats took down the state champs 11-6 in their second to last game of the season.

Cairo at one point held a 9-0 lead over the Bulldogs scoring at least one run in each of the first four innings. Sturgeon didn’t score until the fifth when they scored two runs which they also did in the sixth and seventh and final inning. Cairo ended the game with 11 runs on 12 hits and played a solid defensive game committing no errors which helped keep the Bulldog’s scoring chances to a minimum.

Brad Roberts was awarded with the win for Cairo pitching 6 innings, surrendering 4 runs on 6 hits and struck out 6 batters. Aaron Barratt came on to pitch the seventh inning giving up 2 runs on 2 hits. Garrett Kelly took the loss for Sturgeon.

Aaron Barratt led the Bearcats offensively going 2-3 with 3 RBI’s and 3 runs scored, also starting pitcher Brad Roberts went 4-4 with an RBI and 2 runs scored.

Cairo’s last game of the year came against Atlanta which also ended in a Bearcat victory. Cairo showed that they were solid in almost every aspect of the game in preparation for the spring season hitting double digits in runs scored while committing no errors for the second straight game. Cairo set off a scoring frenzy during Monday’s contest scoring seven runs in the first inning. The Bearcats totaled 10 runs on 14 hits while Atlanta managed 5 runs on 6 hits and committed 4 errors. Pitching for Cairo was Aaron Barratt who pitched a complete game giving up 5 runs (4 earned), struck out 8 batters and walked 4. Offensive performers for Cairo were Aaron Barratt who went 2-3 with 2 RBI’s and 3 stolen bases, Andy Gravitt 2-3 with 2 runs scored, Brad Roberts 2-4 with 2 doubles, Brendan Rutherford 3-4 and Colby Dodd 2-4.

Cairo Head Coach Schleicher commented saying, “We finished strong in a really good season. I believe this was the best fall we have had since 2006. I’m really proud of the way our boys learned how to compete. I think we can use that to our advantage in both the upcoming basketball season and this spring baseball.”