The Modified Baseball team saw its three-game win streak end at home Saturday in a hard-fought 11-8 loss to Ogdensburg Free Academy.
OFA broke open a see-saw game with four runs after two outs in the seventh and then held on for the win in a game which included a 30-minute weather delay in the sixth inning.
“We battled hard to the end in a tough game, but couldn’t keep our late rally going,” said Coach Mark Mende. “OFA has improved a lot since our first game with them (a 12-9 Canton win), and we still have to work on cutting down on the physical and mental errors.”
Canton (4-4) led 4-3 after three innings, but OFA plated three runs in the fourth and a run in the fifth to take a 7-4 lead. The Bears responded with two runs in the fifth and a run in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at 7-7.
Jack Murray got the first two Blue Devil hitters out to start the seventh, but an error kept the inning going and the OFA bats exploded for four runs on four hits to take an 11-7 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh.
JJ Ahlfeld opened the seventh with a triple and scored on a passed ball. Jackson Ames followed with a line shot to left center that the Blue Devil centerfielder made a great play on to get the first out. The Bears got two runners on thanks to a walk and a hit-by-pitch, but the OFA pitcher stopped the rally.
The Canton bats managed seven hits, plus eight walks by OFA pitchers. Ahlfeld and Ames had back-to-back RBI singles in the fifth. Carter Shatraw, Zadok Roiger, James Trombley and Charlie Todd also had hits for Canton. Ahlfeld and Brandon O’Shea each scored two runs.
Todd started on the mound and gave up three runs, all on balls that got past the catcher to allow runners to score from third base. He gave up two hits, had three walks and struck out four. Roiger pitched the fourth and gave up three runs on two hits, a walk and an error he walked one and struck out two. Jack Murray relieved him and went two and two-thirds innings, giving up five runs on five hits with four walks and two strikeouts. Ames struck out the lone batter he faced in the seventh.
After five straight home games, the Bears play at Massena Tuesday as they play three of their last four games on the road.
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