Pirates open baseball season with pair of wins

By Jeremy Weber
jweber@campcountynow.com

The Pirates baseball team opened the season with a pair of wins last week as Pittsburg downed both Lindale and New Boston.
The Pirates needed a walk-off hit from Kason Newman to pick up a win at home Friday as Pittsburg downed the visiting New Boston Lions, 5-4.
Pittsburg took a 4-3 lead into the seventh inning of the contest but the Lions used a pair of singles to tie the game at four in the top of the inning. Garrett Truitt got the Pirate offense started with a one-out double into the gap in left center in the bottom of the inning before Charlie Mitchell drew a walk to put two Pirates on base. Caleb Banks followed with an infield single to load the bases and Newman scorched a 2-2 pitch into right center to drive in Truitt as the winning run.
The Pirates had started the with an early lead as Cody Perry drew a lead-off walk in the bottom of the first inning and later scored on a double by Brandon Colbert to put Pittsburg up 1-0. Pittsburg added to its lead in the bottom of the second inning as Banks led off with a single, stole second and scored as New Boston threw the ball into left field on a stolen base attempt at third.
Perry drew another walk and later scored his second run of the game in the bottom of the third inning as the Pirates pushed their lead to 3-0.
The Lions finally got on the board in the top of the fourth inning as a pair of walks and a hit batter loaded the bases with one out. An errant throw on a ball back to the pitcher allowed New Boston to score, but Pittsburg starter Mitchell came back from a 3-0 count to strike out the final Lion batter of the inning.
An infield single and a pair of passed balls allowed the Lions to cut the Pirate lead to 3-2 in the top of the fifth inning. The Lions were able to tie the score in the top of the sixth inning with a lead-off walk and an error on a ground ball to second.
With the game knotted at three, the Pirates regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth as Mitchell reached base on a high pop up that fell into fair territory between third and home. Christian Edwards came in to run for Mitchell and moved to third as the Lions misplayed a bunt by Newman. After Jonathan Boyd drew an intentional walk to load the bases, Perry delivered with an infield single to bring Mitchell home and put the Pirates up 4-3.
Banks led the Pirates at the plate in the contest, going 3-4 with a run scored and two steals while Colbert finished 2-4 with a double, a steal and two RBI.
 

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