PARIS — Two top teams. Two extra-inning games. Two walk-off wins for Bessey Motors.
Bessey Motors entered Saturday’s doubleheader against Franklin County with a slim, half-game lead in the Zone 2 standings over the visiting Flyers. It has a little more breathing room after a pair of 4-3 nine-inning victories.
Jake Spinhirn delivered the first walk-off to cap a late-game rally and Nick Attaliades-Ryan did the honors three hours later in Game 2 to complete the sweep and keep Bessey Motors undefeated. It was Attaliades-Ryan’s second walk-off this week, the first coming against Tri-Town on Wednesday.
“I fought him off for a few pitches, and then I was just trying to get a hit to drive our guy in from third,” Attaliades-Ryan said.
With the zone tournament a little more than a week away, Bessey Motors (12-0) now holds a two-game lead over Augusta and a 2.5-game lead over Franklin County (10-3) for the No. 1 seed.
Bessey Motors’ undefeated season looked to be over in Game 1, with the home team trailing 3-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh.
It was down to its final out when Brady Lafrance roped a two-run double down the third-base line to force extras. Bessey Motors left the winning run on third in the eighth only to win it an inning later on Spinhirn’s single to center, scoring Blake Slicer from third.
“I had two strikes on me,” Spinhirn said. “I got a great pitch right down the middle, and I drove it as hard as I could.”
Prior to Spinhirn’s heroics, Franklin County tallied three runs in the sixth. Anthony Franchetti and Amos Herrin delivered RBI singles to right field to put the Flyers in front for the first time.
Bessey Motors never trailed in Game 2 but did see a pair of leads evaporate. Trailing 3-2 in the top of the seventh, the Flyers pulled even when Herrin scored on a passed ball with one out.
“They’re a real good team, and they show it,” Spinhirn said. “They just came off 10 wins in a row. They’re definitely tough. They definitely showed that they’re real good.”
Franklin County went down in order in both the eighth and ninth, while Bessey Motors stranded runners on first and second in the eighth before winning it once again in the ninth.
Bailey West led off the final frame with a double to right and moved to third on a Lafrance groundout to short. Ryan ended the marathon day with a bloop to right to score West.
Bessey Motors appeared poised to run away with Game 2 after plating two runs in the first three at-bats with the help of two Franklin County errors.
But the Flyers scored twice in the fourth on RBIs from Ryan and Andrew Pratt. They loaded the bases with one out, chasing starting pitcher Aiden Heikkinen in the process. Franklin County couldn’t squeeze any more runs in the inning as reliever Chris Burns got Herrin to ground into a 5-3 double play.
“Ty (Martin), Nick (Attaliades-Ryan) and Spinhirn played very well in the infield,” Bessey Motors coach Shane Slicer said. “They might have made an error or two when they got their runs in the first game, but other than that they were solid, especially the one where the bases were loaded and Ty stepped on the bag when Amos hit the ball really hard.”
Bessey Motors turned six double plays in the doubleheader — twice with the bases loaded. Sebastian Lombardi grounded into the other — an inning-ending 1-2-3 double play in the sixth inning of Game 1.
“We hit into a lot of double plays,” Franklin County coach Kyle Gunzinger said. “We have to have a little better patience. Obviously they did a great job. Sometimes you have tip your cap to the other team. They played a hell of a game.”
Riley Chickering picked up a pair of victories in relief to go along with a 4-for-8 day at the plate. Chickering tossed four innings of relief in Game 1, followed by three more in Game 2. In 94 pitches, Chickering allowed three runs on four hits, striking out three.
“You got to give a lot of credit to Riley,” Shane Slicer said. “He got us two wins today. He gutted it out. Our pitching staff, (there weren’t) enough of us, so Riley stepped up and our catcher caught all 18 innings and did a fantastic job.”
Evan Roberts and Colton Lawrence went the distance for Franklin County. Roberts tossed 140 pitches in Game 1, allowing four runs on eight hits, striking out eight. Lawrence scattered eight hits on 123 pitches, striking out seven.
Nick Bowie finished 3-for-5 with a pair of RBIs in the doubleheader for Bessey Motors. Ryan Pratt and Herrin were repeat hitters for Franklin County.
“Obviously you’d like it to end the other way, but if there was somebody out there that was neutral and came to watch the baseball games, they got their money’s worth,” Gunzinger said.
mkraft@sunjournal.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
