Chatt-A-Hoots Fall to Bucks After Late Brookhaven Rally

Columbus, GA - The Columbus Chatt-A-Hoots dropped a tough loss to the Brookhaven Bucks 5-3 after a late rally from the Bucks. Columbus went ahead 3-0 in the 3rd, but the Bucks scored 2 runs in the top of the 6th and then took the lead with 3 runs in the top of the 9th to win it.

It was a pitcher’s duel early between the two squads before the Bucks late rally. Both starting pitchers were effective outside of one bad inning apiece. For the Hoots, Clay Weatherly went 6 strong innings. He finished up allowing just 2 earned runs, while striking out 3 batters. He allowed 3 hits and walked a batter. The Bucks countered with their starter Charles Stephenson. Stephenson went 5 innings where he allowed 3 runs (2 earned) with 3 hits allowed and 3 walks. He also struck out 4 Hoots’ batters.

It was a slow start offensively with the pitchers in control early. Columbus had their big inning in the bottom of the 3rd with a 2 out rally. The first two men were retired to open the inning, but the Hoots took off from there. Bryce Newman singled at the bottom of the order to get on for the top. Zane Ross then drew a walk out of the leadoff spot to put two men on. Simms Owens then sharply sent a ball over to 1st, but it wasn’t fielded cleanly and Owens beat out the throw on a close play at 1st to reach on an E3 to load the bases. Win Johns then picked up the big hit. He sent a ball into left field for a double that scored Newman and Ross easily. Owens was trying to advance to 3rd and drew a throw, but the throw got away and allowed Owens to score unearned and allowed Johns to reach 3rd.  Stephenson retired the next batter to end the inning.

The game remained quiet for the next few innings with the pitchers in control until the top of the 6th. Weatherly went on a streak from the 2nd through the 5th where he retired 10 straight batters to keep the Bucks lineup in check, but the Bucks got going in the 6th.

Andrew Pendleton drew a leadoff walk to break Weatherly’s retired streak. After a flyout, Max Beck-Berenderson then replaced Pendleton after a fielder’s choice to make it 2 outs. Leadoff man Jack Poist then singled to put 2 men on. Alden Wright picked up the big hit as he had the 2-RBI single to drive in Beck-Berenderson and Poist to trim the Hoots lead to 3-2. 

Brookhaven threatened in the 8th before their rally. The Bucks put 2 men on with no outs in the 8th inning. In the 8th, Pendleton walked and then Miller singled. Beck-Berenderson came up and attempted to bunt, but he popped it up and it was caught by Cooper Krause who was then able to throw to 1st to double up Miller for the clutch double play. Austin Shackleford then struck out Poist for the huge K to end the inning and get out of the jam.

The Bucks’ big inning came in the top of the 9th. They picked up back to back singles to open up the inning from Wright and Jack Herring. They both then advanced a base on a passed ball. Jack Rubenstein leveled the game with an RBI single. Kyle Carlson gave the Bucks the lead right after as he also picked up an RBI single to give the Bucks their first lead at 4-3. Their lead was further extended to 5-3 as Rubenstein later came around to score on a wild pitch. 

Cole McNamee then came in for the shutdown save in the 9th. He got the bottom of the Hoots order to go 1-2-3 in the final frame as the Bucks walked away with the 5-3 win.

Columbus had chances late, but couldn’t push runs across. The big chance came in the 7th when the Hoots loaded the bases with 1 out, but couldn’t push a run across. 

Statistically, Columbus finished up with 6 hits while committing 3 errors. Meanwhile Brookhave picked up 11 hits with 3 errors. Individually, Zane Ross led the way for Columbus with a 2/3 performance. He also walked and scored a run in the 3rd inning.

For Brookhaven, their 2-4 hitters all picked up 2 hits, as did 7-hole hitter Scott Mudler. 2-hole hitter Alden Wright went 2/4 with 2 runs scored and an RBI. 3-hole hitter Jack Herring went 2/4 with a run scored. Clean up hitter Jack Rubenstein went 2/4 with a run scored and an RBI. Mudler went 2/4. 

Stiles Begnaud picked up the win with a perfect inning. Ashton Shackleford picked up the loss. McNamee had the save for his work in the 9th. 

Columbus falls to 7-8, while Brookhaven improved to 7-7. The 2 squads will be back in action against each other on Saturday evening with first pitch at 7:05 pm.