This is how Linden baseball narrowly escaped against Bear Creek to stay unbeaten

Bear Creek baseball was down eight runs but it was rallying an action-packed comeback.

The Bruins hosted the undefeated Linden Lions Tuesday night and for a second it seemed like they could be the ones to give the Lions its first loss of the season.

“This was for sure a good battle back but our whole season has been battle backs against good teams,” said Joe Fagundes, Bear Creek head coach. “Good teams find ways to win close games like this and teams that aren’t quite there yet lose games and today we lost.”

Linden narrowly escaped with a 10-9 victory over Bear Creek to maintain a flawless 10-0 record.

Here are three highlights from this close San Joaquin Athletic Association matchup.

Why the 5th inning was a gamechanger

The Bruins were only trailing 4-2 at the top of the fifth inning. That’s when Linden’s Kyle Frink came up to bat. The junior knocked the ball deep into the outfield snagging two RBI. It gave the Lions a four-point cushion.

Frink kicked off a 6-run inning, an offensive performance that would secure his team the win.

“I think offensively we did good and we had that really big inning but I think we left more out there than I would like,” said Grant Winters, Linden’s head coach. “All in all, scoring 10 runs, I feel really good about it.”

In addition to the two RBI, Frink finished the game with a hit, and a run. Four other Linden players also finished with a hit.

Linden? senior shortstop Beau Daluz was speedy on the bags and led his team with three runs, a double, and an RBI.

Bruins rally to 'move down the line’

Pitching woes plagued Bear Creek throughout the match. They walked 12 batters. Those walks and clutch at-bats for Linden made the rest of the game an uphill battle for the Bruins. They were up for the challenge though.

“When we were down 10-2 I told them it's going to be a process,” Fagundes. “There's a whole process to how you approach your plate appearance and at-bats. When you’re down, one guy’s at-bat is not going to do it. You have to believe in the process and move down the line.”

The line started moving rapidly for the Bruins in the final inning of the game. Linden was forced to go deep into its pitching bullpen after senior Isaiah Soto and sophomore Matthew Schallberger allowed a handful of runs to get past.

“We kind of got a little too confident and we shut them down, but we didn’t shut them down enough,” Daluz said.

Bear Creek senior Ben Loza added pressure to the Linden pitchers. With a runner on second and third, Loza hit a line drive straight through centerfield bringing both runners home. The much-needed hit put the Bruins within just one point after being down by as many as eight points.

“Even though we make a lot of mistakes, we never give up. We never hang our heads,” Fagundes said. “We dug ourselves in too deep of a hole this time. That same determination you saw in the last three innings needs to be there the whole seven innings but it's hard with a young team.”

A pop-up in the infield

Linden’s fourth pitcher junior Eric Alvarez was tasked with closing out the game after Bear Creek caught up 10-9.

Bear Creek’s Tyler Laughlin was next up to bat with two outs and a runner on first and second base. Alvarez put the ball exactly where he needed to and Laughlin got underneath it making it a pop-up in the infield.

“It was hit to me and I was scared it was just a blooper but if I dropped it that was game,” Daluz said. “It was scarier than a hard ground ball but I caught it and I had confidence and it felt really good.”

Daluz’s catch ended the SJAA nail bitter. The two teams will be back in action at 4 p.m. on Thursday at Bear Creek for a rematch that fans won’t want to miss.

Record reporter Shannon Belt covers sports. She can be reached at sbelt@recordnet.com or on Twitter @ShannonBelt3. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Linden baseball beats Bear Creek 10-9 to stay undefeated in season