The Galena High baseball team came within a lost flyball in the sun of sweeping Spanish Springs on Saturday.
Instead, the Grizzlies had to settle for a split of Saturday's games at Spanish Springs, but still ended up winning two out of three games in the series with the Cougars. Galena held on for a 6-5 win in the opener on Saturday before Spanish Springs came back to win the nightcap 2-1.
Going into Saturday's games, Galena, Spanish Springs and Reed were all 3-1 in the High Desert League, with Reed playing a doubleheader against Manogue. Galena and Spanish Springs are now 4-2. The Cougars were unbeaten heading into the series with Galena.
"We had them beat for 13 innings," Galena coach Gary McNamara said. "It's unfortunate. It's one of those things where I was really happy to win the series."
Galena led 1-0 when the Cougars had a runner at first and one out in the bottom of the sixth inning. A flyball that was lost in the sun allowed Spanish Springs to score a run and have a runner at third with one out.
Otherwise there would have been two outs and a runner at first. The Cougars then squeezed home the run to take a 2-1 lead.
The finished spoiled the effort of freshman Jacob Anderson, who only allowed two other hits besides the sun ball. "He pitched well enough to win," McNamara said.
In the opener, Galena scored three runs in the sixth to take a 6-2 lead. Jordan Arnold belted a two-run home run and Basim Azzam hit an RBI single.
Spanish Springs scored twice in the bottom of the sixth and another run in the seventh. But Tony Thompson was able to go the distance, leaving the tying run stranded at second to end the game. "Really the story of the game was Tony Thompson's pitching," McNamara said.
Azzam went 2-for-3 with a triple and Eric Maupin hit a solo homer for Galena.