Boerne Champion saved its best for last on Tuesday when the Charger baseball team visited Smithson Valley.
When the seventh inning started, Champion was trailing 2-1 but rallied in its last at bat by scoring 4 runs to defeat the Rangers, 5-2.
Champion split their two games with the Rangers this year and is 2-1 in 26-5A. The Chargers (11-2-1 overall after Tuesday) are entered in the Leander tourney this weekend.
Smithson Valley took the early lead on Tuesday with a run in the bottom of the first, but Champion tied it in the third on a sac bunt by Lyndon Austin to bring in Brody Bendele from third to make it 1-1.
The Rangers broke the tie in the bottom of the fifth after a balk allowed the runner at third to make it home for the 2-1 lead.
It stayed there until the top of the seventh when the Chargers began their rally. The first batter flew out, but Bendele walked, while Cal Isley and Owen Kuhl singled to load the bases.
An infield error on the next batter allowed Champion to push in 2 runs and take a 3-2 lead. A walk loaded the bases again with one out, but Blake Ott grounded out to bring in a run and it was 4-2, and the Chargers weren’t done yet after Austin later scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-2.
SV still had one last chance in the bottom of the seventh, but the Champion defense retired the first two batters with a strikeout and a ground out. The next batter reached on an error, but the Chargers ended the game with a fly out to right field.
Champion had 4 hits in the game after Kuhl, Garland Whitehead, Bendele and Isley all singled, while Austin picked up 3 RBI and Ott drove in a run.
Austin, Isley and Ethan Jensen scored one run each and Bendele crossed home plate twice.
Ethan Coleman threw a one hitter in six innings of work to pick up the win on 98 pitches. He fanned 9, gave up 1 earned run and walked 3.
Kuhl closed it out in the seventh on 11 pitches, 10 of them strikes. Kuhl didn’t give up a hit, run or walk and struck out a batter.
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