Andrew Grimm REACTION — Buckeye Local's Jordan Kovalski celebrates after hitting a triple against Brooke on Friday.

For Brooke on Friday, as they tried to end a nine-game slide, it certainly did not.

After opening an 8-1 lead through three innings, the Bruins saw visiting Buckeye Local battle back within 8-5 in the top of the fifth.

Brooke responded and pushed the lead to 13-5 going to the seventh, but the Panthers were not quite ready to quit, plating six runs to pull within two at 13-11.

Bruins pitcher Gino Provenzano, the fifth Brooke pitcher to see the mound, though, struck out the final batter to allow the home team to escape and get back in the win column for the first time since March 28.

Andrew Grimm RUNNING HARD — Brooke's Dustin Engle runs to third base after a teammate hit the ball against Buckeye Local on Friday.

“We had to battle to the end, we didn’t make it easy on ourselves but we got it done,” Brooke head coach Doug Costain said. “Our sophomore pitcher Tyson Klick did a good job, the other pitchers did their jobs for the most part and Gino came in and kind of slammed the door to let us hang on.

“Sometimes when thing seem to be sliding, they continue to slide and nothing comes easy. I was lucky enough to be around Skip Prosser, the basketball coach, and he always used to say the pizza tastes better when you win, so we’re excited to get a win.”

A day after struggling to come up with a big hit to take advantage of getting runners on in a 2-0 loss at Indian Creek, the Bruins (4-9-1) came up with several of them Friday against the Panthers (1-6).

Andrew Murdock blasted a homer and doubled, finishing with three RBIs,

Ty Sperringer had two hits and three RBIs and Kamden Sperringer drove in two runs and doubled.

After falling behind 1-0 early, the Bruins knotted the score in the second inning and then exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the third.

A four-run sixth inning proved to be vital in the win.

“We got a couple of big hits and it feels good,” Costain said. “We believe in these guys, they need to believe in themselves. We have good kids, we have good baseball players. We know we can get done what we want to get done. Our record isn’t where we want it to be, but it can be where it needs to be soon if these kids keep battling. Hopefully this one gives is some confidence.”

The game, played at times in the rain on the new turf field at Brooke, featured a combined 22 hits and eight errors.

For the Panthers, despite the comeback coming up a couple runs short, the continued fight to the last swing was a sign of growth for coach Jeff Patrick.

“A couple innings got away but we fought to the end,” he said. “We have been preaching to these guys that we have to play a complete game. A couple innings got away from us, but we kept competing. We competed a lot better to the end and our at-bats were better. They hit the ball well, we hit the ball well at times, if we minimize the mistakes that we had, it changes the game. If we field the baseball a little cleaner, catch a couple fly balls, make a couple plays here and there, we’re right there.

“Years in the past, even the beginning of this year, once we got down, we were kind of out. That has changed a little bit, we fought back, we stayed positive in the dugout and we kept battling.”

Buckeye Local’s Jordan Kovalski had a triple, single and three RBIs, Tyler Schubert doubled and Blake Haught had a pair of RBIs in the game.

UP NEXT

Buckeye Local: Has the weekend off before hosting the Bruins on Monday. The game could be moved back to Brooke in the case of rain.

Brooke: Was slated for a big regional match up against East Fairmont on Saturday before the Bruins and Panthers rematch on Monday.