Beaver falls to Miami Hamilton in final Spring Training game

Vero Beach, FL -- Beaver falls to Miami Hamilton in their final game of spring training in Vero Beach, FL.

Miami Hamilton got on the board in the first at bat, scoring four runs in the top of the first.  As Beaver settled down on defense, they held them scoreless in the second and only gave up one run in the top of the third.  Down 5-0, Beaver finally started to hit in the bottom of the third inning.

After a pair of defensive errors by Miami Hamilton, the seniors showed their leadership starting with Blaise McCarty (Beaver Falls, PA / Riverside) who laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to advance both runners into scoring position.  After a strike out resulting in the second out of the inning, Beaver rallied as they seemed to do all week, with two outs.  Nick Casasanta (Moon Twp, PA / Moon) singled and then advanced to second on the throw from the outfield resulting in 2 RBI's for the senior.  After another defensive error by Miami, Beaver had runners on the corners and were looking to continue their two out rally.  Jordan Price (Conway, PA / Freedom) was able to single to score a third run, but in the following at bat, Beaver hit into a fielder's choice to end the inning.  

With a managable 2-run deficit, Beaver hoped to continue to edge their way back into the game, but the offense of Miami Hamilton was too much as the Lions gave up two runs in the fourth, another in the fifth and two more in the sixth followed by another in the seventh.  Trailing 11-3 going into their final at bat in the game, Beaver wasn't going home without a fight.  Freshman, Dan Natale (New Castle, PA / New Castle) hit a lead-off single followed by Jake Debo (New Brighton, PA / New Brighton) who also singled.  With two runners on, Casasanta hit a sacrifice fly to score Natale, but with just one out Beaver wasn't able to generate more offense and fell by a final score of 11-4.

Offensively Beaver was led by Debo who went 3 for 4, Casasanta who was 1 for 3, but tallied 3 RBI's and by Zach Ulrich (Seabrook, Texas / Clearfalls) who went 2 for 4.

Beaver ends their week in Florida 2-4, but showing promise for the 2017 season with a lot of flexibilty on the roster.  The Lions play their home opener on Wednesday, March 15th at 3:00 p.m. against Grove City.