Batavia 16, Geneva 14 (12)

The Batavia baseball team breathed a huge sigh of relief after the Western Sun Conference rival series with Geneva was over.

In a game that picked up from last Wednesday's 12-12 tie that was called due to darkness, the Bulldogs finally ended the 3-game series with a 16-14 win in 12 innings Monday in Geneva.

"It's a relief because we know we should have won the last two games against them," Batavia first baseman Shane Holl said. "They are a good team, but we played better than them up until the last couple of innings all three games. We should have won this one in the seventh, but we had to come back for 12. But it's good to finally get one together."

This is the fifth extra-inning game in the last 7 outings the Bulldogs have been a part of.

"Things have just been really weird," Batavia coach Matt Holm said.

Batavia (13-9, 8-7) may have won the extra-inning affair, but Geneva (16-5, 9-5) won the series. That was an accomplishment in itself for the Vikings.

The Vikings came from behind to win last Tuesday and did it again in extra innings Thursday.

"I know we have 16 guys who will not quit," Geneva coach Matt Hahn said. "That's what I stressed to them at the end -- you have to put this game in the big picture. As disappointed as we are we lost … we still were in a position to win the game. The fact that we took two out of three against them, that's key."

"They've had our number," Holm said. "Two years ago, we swept them, last year, they swept us, it's gone back and forth. This was a great series in terms of great competition and playing hard. It's been a while since both teams have had a real good team at the same time."

Sycamore is currently in first place in the conference race at 11-4.

"We stressed all along that if you win the series, we'll be right there at the end of the conference (race)," Hahn said. "Except for the Yorkville series, we've won every series we've played so far."

The game picked up in the 10th inning, but neither team scored until the 12th.

Prior to that, Batavia left one stranded in the 10th and the bases loaded in the 11th and kept the Vikings off the bases.

In the 12th, however, the Bulldogs scored 4 runs on 2 hits, led by Holl's 2 RBI double.

Tim Drish hit a single with one out. He was moved to second on a Brian Krolikowski walk. Drish scored when Jordan Coffey reached base on a Geneva error. Mike Sentman was hit by a pitch, which loaded the bases and set the table for Holl's big hit. Sentman eventually scored on a wild pitch.

"I was just hoping we were not going to play another 7 (innings)," Holl said. "Our bats came around and we starting hitting the ball well."

Geneva came back, however, in the bottom of the inning after Sean Grady reached on an error with one out. He was moved to third on Kevin Massoth's double. Both scored when Mike Grandenitti got to second on another Batavia error.

Grandenitti got to third on Cory Hoffstetter's ground out. The bases were loaded with two outs when Ryan Adams and Ryan Payne were walked back-to-back, but no one could get them home.

Despite the loss, the Vikings battled back numerous times throughout the game. They were down 7-0 at one point Wednesday and were able to knot the game at 10 in the seventh and 12 in the ninth.

"The game could have gone either way because both teams are capable of putting a lot of runs on the board," Hahn said.