Because the Junior Legion game before it lasted over three hours, the coaches for the Bryant Black Sox and Cabot Centennial Bank AA teams agreed ahead of time that they’d put a two-hour limit on their game Monday night.
As it turned out, the Sox could’ve probably used another inning even through Cabot’s veteran lefty Gavin Tillery had taken the mound in the fifth.
As it went, Cabot held on for a 6-5 win in six innings with Tillery closing it out by striking out the side in the home sixth.
If there had been a seventh inning, however, he would’ve faced the top of the Bryant batting order and Hunter Oglesby, Daniel Darbonne, Diego Vargas and Jordan Gentry had already accounted for all five of the team’s hits in the game, scoring four of the runs and knocked in four.
It was the season-opening game for the AA Sox who are set to return to action on Thursday at home with a doubleheader against Sheridan.
The game went back and forth. Cabot took a 2-0 lead in the first. Dillon Thomas doubled with one down and Tillery was hit by a pitch. Logan Edmondson grounded into a force at second but when the relay to first was errant, Thomas raced home with the first run.
Edmondson stole second and took third on an infield hit by Brian Tillery. An errant pickoff throw allowed Edmondson to score.
The Sox tied in in the bottom of the second, though. Oglesby ripped a lead-off double to left and Darbonne walked. A passed ball moved them up and a wild pitch allowed Oglesby to score. Vargas yanked an RBI single into left to bring in Darbonne.
Oglesby, the Bryant started on the mound, eased through the second, working around a one-out walk. In the third, he gave up a single to Gavin Tillery but the Sox turned an eye-popped doubleplay with Darbonne making a nice back-handed stop at second, flipping to Gentry for the force then Drew Brown dug out a low throw to first.
The Sox took the lead in the bottom of the inning when Oglesby was hit by a pitch and stole second. With two down, Gentry drilled a double into the left-field corner for the RBI.
Darbonne relieved in the fourth and struggled with his control initially. A hit batsman and two walks filled the bases and a wild pitch allowed the tying run to score. A one-out grounder to third by Blake Buffalo made it 4-3.
Cabot starter Eugene Germer held the Sox in the home fourth and his teammates added two runs to the lead in the fifth. Both were unearned. Thomas beat out an infield hit but Darbonne retired the next two and appeared to be out of the inning when he induced a grounder to third. But the throw to first got away and Thomas scored. Brian Tillery wound up at second. He took third on a wild pitch and, moments later, a swinging bunt by Brandon Jones was enough to get him home, making it 6-3.
Bryant responded in the bottom of the inning. Noah Record reached on an error and took second on a wild pitch. With one out, Darbonne’s humpback liner to left got him home. And, when the ball was misplayed in the outfield, Darbonne sprinted to second. Vargas got him to third with a grounder to the right side.
With Gentry at the plate, Germer’s 89th pitch missed and the Cabot coaches called in Gavin Tillery. On his second pitch, Gentry singled to drive in Darbonne, making it 6-5 with the potential tying run on base.
But the Cabot lefty got Brown to ground out to second to preserve the advantage.
Gentry relieved for Bryant in the top of the sixth and fanned two on the way to a 1-2-3 inning but Tillery closed it out in the home half.
