Norega Walk-Off Lifts Mater Academy Over COHEA

Box Score

Games like this highlight everything great about baseball. In a contest that turned into a battle of attrition, the Mater Academy Lions fought back twice to win a shoot-out over the COHEA Bulldogs on Monday afternoon. Each side kept answering back to every scoring rally, but the host Lions had the benefit of batting last.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, Eiker Norega delivered a liner to center field that drove in the winning run, as the Lions walked off with the 11-10 victory.

It was Norega’s only hit in three at bats, but he also drew two walks to reach base three times.

“Today we overcame some adversity and came back to win with another walk-off,” Mater Academy Manager Humberto Bencomo said. “This is not the way we typically like to win games, but we’ll take it. It shows that this team doesn’t give up until the last out.”

The Lions (7-6) also rallied for four runs in a walk-off, 5-4 win over Somerset Academy on February 28th.

COHEA made a comeback the only option for victory, after the Bulldogs jumped out for five runs in the top of the first inning before the Lions had even had a turn to bat. COHEA (4-5) led 6-3 after three innings, after tacking on another run in the third.

But the Lions’ offense was locked in on Monday, as every starter in the lineup had at least one hit while piling up 15 hits in all.

Mater answered back with five runs in the fifth inning to jump in front with a 8-6 lead. Jonathan Esponda collected one of his three hits on the day to get it going, with an RBI single that drove Norega in. Yodelkis Quevedo then walked, and Bryan Arrieta gave his team the lead with a three-run home run to right field. Alfrin Rosario then singled and later scored on a wild pitch.

Esponda was 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI, while Arietta had five RBI on a 2-for-4 day.

The Lions have won six of their past seven games.

“We started with a 1-5 record; lost a couple tough, one-run games,” Bencomo said. “But now we are over 500. We will continue to work hard and peak at the right time. We have been overcoming some key injury’s and hope to have these players back in the next week or so.”

Leave a comment using your facebook account!