Bears win Game Three 7-3 over Lake

West Lincoln and Lake provided an offensive show that nearly blew a fuse in the scoreboard Friday night, as the Lake Hornets managed to escape the Cow Palace with a 13-9 victory over the Bears in Game Two and force a decisive Game Three in Class 2A state baseball playoff action.

“We swung the bats really well, but we could not make the plays we needed to in order to win the game,” said West Lincoln coach Steve Barrington. “We have preached on not giving good teams extra outs throughout the game, and it really came back to bite at the end.”

The Bears are currently 18-7 overall on the season. Game Three results will be in Tuesday’s paper due to the fact that both teams were playing in a late contest Saturday.

Lake 13, West Lincoln 9 

West Lincoln and Lake baseball fans witnessed an offensive showdown Friday night as the Bears and Hornets lit up the scoreboard.

In the first inning, Lake came out and set the tone of the contest as they grabbed a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the first inning, the Bears answered by pushing across two runs.

In the second inning, the Hornets fought back and scored five runs to reclaim the lead at 6-2.

West Lincoln continued their aggressiveness at the plate as they rallied to tie the game at 8-all after scoring two runs each in the third, fourth and fifth innings.

The Hornets managed to withstand the onslaught and gained the upper hand on West Lincoln in the offensive scoring spree as they outscored the Bears 5-1 in the final two innings of action to force a deciding Game Three back home at Lake.

Justin Barrett was the winning pitcher in relief for the Hornets with two strikeouts and two walks. Bryson Luke (5K, 4BB) was the starting pitcher for Lake.

Seth Bivens (0K, 2BB) suffered the setback on the mound for the Bears as he pitched the final two innings in relief. Tanner Boutwell (1K, 2BB) started for West Lincoln and pitched for five innings.

Ty Forman powered the offensive scoring spree for the Bears with a home run, a double and a single. Brady Wilson continued with a home run and a single. Austin Burris added another home run. Tyler Moak contributed two doubles and a single. Jeremy Burns provided a double and a single. Boutwell ripped a pair of singles. Bryce Temple and Alex Neal hit safely.

Matt Mitchell was the top slugger for the Hornets with two home runs. Barrett and Luke provided a pair of singles. Jay Johnston and Levi Culpepper had a single apiece.