Geneva 12, Batavia 12 (9)
It was obvious both the Geneva and Batavia baseball teams were disappointed and upset after Wednesday's game, even though no one walked away with a loss.
After three hours and 15 minutes of two Western Sun Conference rivals battling in Geneva in the second game of the three-game series, the contest was called due to darkness after a 12-12 tie in 9 innings.
"Who wants to call a game in the middle of it when all the excitement is going on?," Geneva's No. 9 hitter Sean Grady said. "We were having fun playing. We just wanted to keep playing."
Batavia coach Matt Holm declined any comments from the Bulldogs side until the game is completed. The two will resume before Game 3 of the series today.
Geneva won the first outing Tuesday, 6-4, in Batavia.
In Wednesday's game, Batavia led by as much as 7-0 after scoring runs in the second and third innings, led by RBI from Alex Beckmann, Brad Brandenburg, Ryan Welter, Mike Maloney and Mike Sentman, who hit a 2-run home run to center field.
Geneva chipped away at the lead with 4 runs in the third and fifth innings, thanks to RBI singles from Dan Rowe, Justin Doty and Ryan Payne.
Jordan Coffey's 2-RBI single gave Batavia a 9-4 advantage in the top of the sixth, only to have the Vikings respond with two more runs, led by Cory Hofstetter and Payne.
The Bulldogs scored once in the seventh, but it wasn't enough as Geneva answered with 4 runs off 4 hits to knot the game at 10, thanks to Grady's huge 2-run triple. Payne's sacrifice fly RBI allowed the tying run, Mike Grandenitti, to score.
Both teams left runners on base in the eighth. In the ninth, Shane Holl and Ryan Welter provided back-to-back RBI singles for the Bulldogs, but once again, Geneva came back.
The bases were loaded after Hofstetter led off with a double, Ryan Adams walked and Rowe singled. Both Hofstetter and Adams scored with two outs after Rodney Nelson's hit was misplayed by Batavia's infield. He ended up on second after a bad throw to first base on what would have been the third out.
Rowe was pushed to third and the next batter after Nelson, Grady, was intentionally walked. The game ended after Kevin Massoth struck out.
Batavia finished with 20 hits. Welter led the way after he went 5-for-6 with 2 RBI. Every player in the starting lineup reached base at least twice and had at least 1 hit. Holl walked 4 times.
Grady was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. He finished with 4 of Geneva's 26 hits. Like Batavia, each starter reached base somehow at least twice.
Even though the game was a draw, the Vikings never led.
"We knew the game wasn't over," Grady said. "We know we are a good hitting team. There's no game we ever feel we are out of. We just want to keep playing hard. We just try to make good things happen by putting the ball in play."