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Sports

Durant Storms Back To Down Bloomingdale

Durant comes back after being down, 6-0, to beat the Bulls, 10-6 on Tuesday.

After locking down four wins in a row, the Bulls lose two straight after a heartbreaking loss to Durant on Tuesday night, 10-6.

In the previous four game win streak, Bloomingdale (9-7-0, 3-2-0, second place 6A Division 8) outscored opposing teams, 35-12. In Tuesday's loss to Durant (10-3-0, 5-3-0, second place 5A District 8), the bats of Bloomingdale were impressive, but the arms of their young pitchers eventually wore down, giving up a promising lead to one of the county's toughest teams.

Bloomingdale, behind the 4 RBI of sophomore infielder Garret Lorenzo and the hitting of Nolan Schrenker and Conor Malloy could not contain a six- run lead after four shut-out innings of baseball. The Durant pitching staff was inefficient and shaky at best as they surrendered five runs in the fifth inning and another in the fourth, giving Bloomingdale a 6-0 early lead.

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It was not Durant's pitching that gave them the edge. Instead, they relied on their steadiness and patience at the plate. Trailing 0-6, the Cougars' bats came alive in the middle innings and, when the dust settled, it was a tie game, 6-6.

Bloomingdale ace Robby Kalaf (4-1, 54 k's) pitched a scoreless game going into the fifth inning. After holding the Durant bats silent, the Cougars began to chip away at the senior pitcher.

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Kalaf, who had only given up one home run all season, surrendered two long balls Tuesday night. After giving up six runs on 115 pitches and striking out seven, Bloomingdale coach Kris Wilken was forced to call upon his bullpen.

After the Bulls could not score in the bottom of the seventh to win, junior Sean Moore was called upon to replace Kalaf and shut the door on the Cougars in the eighth.

After one batter, Moore surrendered the go-ahead runs and reliever Kameron Wilson also allowed the Cougars to widen their lead by allowing two additional runs in the eighth to give Durant a 10-6 advantage.

Bloomingdale could not capitalize in the bottom of the eighth and was shut-out in the last four innings of the game by the Cougar's pitching staff.

The Bulls will look to steer the ship back on track as they play three conference games in the next two weeks. Those three games against Plant, Brandon and Alonso will paint a clearer picture of the post-season shuffle in the 6A Division 8 conference in Hillsborough County.

Box Score

School Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 R H E Durant 0 0 0 0 2 1 3 4 10 10 0 Bloomingdale 0 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 6 11 0

 

Bloomingdale will host East Bay at home on March 25 at 7 p.m.

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