EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
With temperatures hovering around 50 degrees Tuesday night at Brent Gould Field, the Bee Jays opened the season with a cold start, but they heated up late to earn a come-from-behind 3-2 win.
Josh Reed took the mound for the Bee Jays but struggled with his location and walked a batter and beaned two others. Dodge City got a clutch two-out hit to score two runs and took the early lead.
Reed walked four runners in his two innings of work, but the Bee Jay pitching settled in after the rough start and gave the offense a chance.
But the Bee Jays didn’t get their first hit of the season until the fifth inning when Jack Ryan reached on an infield hit and a sac fly later in the inning pushed a runner across the plate to cut Dodge’s lead to 2-1.
The Bee Jay pitching staff including Trevor Steele, Leandro Tamaki and Aden Bowman continued to answer the challenge of keeping the Bee Jays close before the Bee Jays finally broke through in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Cole Giametta started the eighth for the Bee Jays by getting hit by a pitch with a two-strike count, and Kotaro Wakui followed with a shot to right. With two on base, Bennett Vondrak hit a line drive to left center that allowed Giametta to tie the game, and Wakui was waved around third as the ball was being fielded. The throw came in hot to home but was high, and Wakui slid in safe to give the Bee Jays a 3-2 lead, and the Bee Jay defense held in the ninth for the win.
