The Bradwell Tigers led early, but the Richmond Hill Wildcats were able to come from behind to beat the Hinesville team 7-3 Friday night on the diamond.
In the bottom of the first inning Tiger batter Leonard Felton got on first with a hit. Garrett McCorkle was walked. Felton was able to steal third and Josh Driggers got a hit to bring Felton home.
Driggers and McCorkle advanced to second and third base, respectively. Josh Rivers was walked and the Tigers had the bases loaded with two outs. Eran Hodge made a base hit, scoring McCorkle. So the inning closed 2-0 favoring the Tigers.
Tiger pitcher Jacob Dill held the Wildcats in check and the home team once again loaded the bases, but faced two outs in the bottom of the second. Driggers was walked, taking Hinesville advantage to 3-0.
In the top of the third, a Wildcat scored a run off a double.
In the fourth, the Wildcats loaded the bases and scored again. Moments later another hit to centerfield allowed the Wildcats to take a 5-3 lead.
Dill pitched four innings and Eric Wells took over in the fifth. The Tiger defense held the Wildcats and in the bottom of the inning the Tigers put a man on first. Dill hit one to the centerfield fence and the runner, Nick Snider rounded third, headed home, but was called out at the plate. That drew boos from the crowd and questioning looks from the coaching staff.
The play shifted the momentum to the Wildcats.
In the top of the sixth, with a Wildcat on base, Wells struck out two batters. But the next batter hit one toward the fence, bringing in another run. The very next batter hit a shot to the fence scoring the final run of the game.Tiger coach Rhett Hellgren said they played well, just not well enough to win.
"We need to start getting some more hitting going and we will be just fine," he said.
The Tigers head to Ludowici tomorrow to play Long County High School. Game starts at 5:30 p.m.