The BHS baseball team fell a game short in their quest for the school’s first-ever title, losing 10-3 to O’Dea on Tuesday evening.

“They (O’Dea) were the better team today,” said coach Jayson Gore. “Every ball they hit seemed to find a hole, while everything we hit was right at them.”

The Spartans were victimized by their inability to get base hits at crucial points in the game. Bainbridge had just five hits, but Irish pitchers issued ten bases on balls. The Spartans wound up leaving ten men on base, with another cut down on a double play and a twelfth being thrown out on an attempted steal. They never had more than one hit in an inning.

The first inning set the tone for the game. The Spartans loaded the bases on three walks with one out in the top half of the inning, but an infield pop fly and strikeout ended that threat.

“That was huge,” said O’Dea player John Richmond. “Their crowd would have gone crazy. Instead it gave us the momentum.”

The Irish used that momentum to score a run in the bottom of the first on an infield hit, stolen base, and crisp single into center field.

After Bainbridge stranded three more runners in the second and third, O’Dea broke the game open when they plated six runs in the third on six hits off two Spartan pitchers. The Irish added three more in the fourth to effectively seal the win.

Bainbridge scored twice in the sixth and once in the seventh, with Irish miscues making all three runs unearned.

Bainbridge finished the season with a 19-8 record.