Knights come out flat in season-ending loss

Sep 28, 2022 - 10:37 PM

The Knights fell behind early on and could not catch up, despite a scoring five runs on 10 hits. As a result, their season ended with a 9-5 loss to the Bulls.

Knights starter Sean Burke did not have his best stuff, as he struggled to fool the Bulls on the mound. Durham got going early on, as Xavier Edwards led off the game with an eight-pitch walk. Bligh Madris, the second batter of the game, hit a double to put the Bulls ahead, 1-0. The Bulls proceeded to pad their lead with a sacrifice fly and a double, and by the end of the first, they had a 3-0 lead.

The Knights offense came to life in the bottom of the third, when they showed some great power. Nick Ciuffo and Indiana Hoosier Craig Dedelow launched back-to-back home runs to open the inning, trimming the deficit to one.

However, while the second and third innings were fairly easy for Burke, the fourth was a different story. The Bulls opened the inning with back-to-back singles, and after a walk and another single, it was 5-2. Burke got Edwards to pop out to end his day, but he was still responsible for runners on the corners with one out.

Nicholas Padilla took over on the mound, and he could not get out of the jam. Madris hit a ground-rule double for his second two-bagger of the day, and that made it 6-2. Before the fourth was over, the Bulls used a single and a passed ball to extend their lead to six. The Bulls got their ninth and final run in the sixth, when Madris continued his amazing performance with a home run to make it 9-2.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Knights got back on the board. Adam Haseley started the rally with a leadoff single. Haseley promptly stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by the catcher. Yolbert Sánchez drove in Haseley with a ground out, and the Knights were not done scoring. Lenyn Sosa singled with two outs, and he came around to score on a double by Tyler Neslony.

In the eighth, Sosa, and Neslony teamed up for the Knights’ final run of the season. Once again, Sosa came up to bat with two outs and nobody on base. This time, Sosa and Neslony hit back-to-back doubles to reduce the deficit to four. That was the last time either team scored, as the Bulls held on for a 9-5 victory.

A bright spot for the Knights was the bullpen, which performed quite well down the stretch. Jason Bilous was especially remarkable, striking out all three batters he faced.