Tanner McDonald takes a pitch while Sean Pearce steals second base April 17 at Battle Ground High School. The Tigers rallied from four runs down but lost a back and forth game to Union 9-8. On April 15, Battle Ground beat Union 12-11.
The Battle Ground Tigers played with grit on the baseball diamond against the Union Titans.
Down 8-4 after Carter Sutton hit a grand slam for Union in the second inning and knocked in another run in the third, Battle Ground fought back and tied the score in the bottom of the third with key hits by Daniel Joner, Sean Pearce and Tanner McDonald. Carter Johnson also brought a couple of Tigers home on two walks with the bases loaded. The Titans reclaimed the lead with a run the top of fourth and held on for a 9-8 victory.
Joner delivered his third hit of the game for the Tigers in the bottom of the seventh. He advanced to third base before the Titans got the final out of the game.
“Just keep battling. That’s what we do here in Battle Ground,” Pearce said. “Just keep battling until we can’t anymore.”
Afterward, Battle Ground head coach Billy Hayes shared his appreciation of the Tigers for fighting until the last pitch was put in play.
“That’s kind of our (mission objective) here. That’s what we do,” he said. “We may not be the biggest team in the world but our kids always fight till the end. Everybody knows when they play us they’ve got a fight on their hands. I was proud of them in that way.”
Battle Ground and Union played a similar game with crooked numbers two days before. The Tigers built a 7-1 advantage in the first four innings before the Titans scored nine runs in the fifth. Battle Ground responded with two runs in the sixth and three in the seventh to win 12-11.
Mark Hauser had three hits, knocked in two runs and scored three times for the Tigers. Dylan Swanson drove in three runs. Joner, Pearce and Avery Fettig also plated runs.
“The one thing about Union is, they always hit well. They’ll always put guys in motion. They always put the ball in play and they make you make plays,” Hayes said. “You know you have to score runs when you play them. I told the kids early on when they got up that it’s going to be a ‘knock down, drag out’ … and it was. It was that.”
Although Battle Ground lost to Skyview Thursday and Monday, the Tigers are still in the hunt for a playoff spot from the 4A Greater St. Helens League.
Battle Ground (3-5, 6-8) has two games left against Heritage then and Camas. The Tigers beat both of those teams earlier in the season.
“We are definitely getting better but we’re in a real tough league,” Haynes said. “Just get back on the horse tomorrow and get ready to fight again.”
