The Starbuck Jr. Legion baseball team put together a seventh-inning rally in game two of Tuesday’s doubleheader in Litchfield, but it wasn’t enough to avoid the sweep.
Starbuck dropped its second game of the night by a score of 6-5 after trailing by three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Austin Ballhagen led off the fifth inning with a single and later scored on a double from Dylan Alexander. Trailing 6-3 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Alexander and Nathan Dell got on base with two-out singles. They would both come around to score on a double from PJ Johnson.
Even though the comeback effort came up short, Dell threw a complete game on the mound. Only three of his six runs were earned, and he struck out five Litchfield batters. Alexander, Dell and Johnson each recorded multi-hit games as well.
In game one, Starbuck jumped out to a 2-1 lead. Alexander drove in Blake Andreas with a single before Johnson tallied one of his three hits of the game on an RBI single.
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Litchfield cut Starbuck’s lead in half in the bottom of the inning before blowing the game open with a four-run third. Litchfield added two more runs in the fourth before Starbuck cut into the deficit in the top of the fifth.
A three-run fifth inning was started with an Alexander double, followed by an RBI-double from Johnson. He came around to score on Starbuck’s third double of the game off the bat of Rylan Martin. Mart scored on a single from Jack Larson to pull within one.
The game lasted six innings, and Johnson threw all five for Starbuck. He allowed nine hits and three earned runs with five strikeouts.
