Blazers Hang on in Game 1 with Bears

FARMERS BRANCH, Texas – Dallas College North Lake's baseball team held on to beat Dallas College Brookhaven, 10-9, in Game 1 of this week's three-game series.

The Blazers improved to 14-12 overall, 6-1 in the Dallas Athletic Conference. They share the same league record as No. 2 Dallas College Eastfield (23-7, 6-1 DAC) and No. 4 Dallas College Richland (19-9, 6-1) atop the league standings.

Eric De Anda, Leo Salas and Joseph Binder all homered for North Lake, which won its fourth one-run game of the season, including two in conference action. The three long balls are a season high for the Blazers.

De Anda was 2-for-5 with three runs batted in. Salas was 1-for-5 with two RBI. Binder was 2-for-5 with a stolen base.

De Anda hit a two-run shot to left in the first inning that put the Blazers up, 3-0. His home run followed Michael Holden's RBI double to left. Brookhaven's Bo Dinscore belted a two-out solo homer to left to put the Bears (10-16, 1-6) on the board in the bottom half of the inning.

Brookhaven pulled within a run in the second on Ray Jaramillo's RBI groundout. An inning later, Dinscore doubled to left to score Isaiah Nava, knotting the score at 3-3. Caden Roeschen's two-run homer to right gave the Bears a 5-3 lead.

Salas' homer – a two-run bomb to center with two outs in the sixth – tied the game. Reece Parrott gave the lead back to North Lake, 6-5, on a two-out single to right. De Anda's two-out single to center in the seventh made it 7-5.

Binder led off the eighth with a solo homer to left to bump the Blazers' lead to 8-5. Parrott scored on a wild pitch, and Robert Farr's sacrifice fly to right-center made it 10-5. The Bears scored twice in the bottom of the inning on Jaramillo's run-scoring single to center and Nava's RBI double to right, cutting the gap to three.

After North Lake was retired in order in the ninth, Brookhaven used a two-run homer by Mason Gilliam with one out to pull within a run. North Lake reliever Maxwell Gidden came in to pitch, retiring the first two batters he faced to preserve the victory and earn his second save of the year.

Parrott was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a stolen base. Jacob Binder went 2-for-4 with a stolen base. Eight of the nine batters in the Blazers' lineup recorded at least one hit.

Landon Kerkmaz was 2-for-5 for the Bears. Dinscore was 2-for-3 with two RBI. Nava went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a stolen base.

North Lake's Isaac Lopez (2-1) got the win in middle relief. He allowed two runs on two hits and two walks, and struck out five in 3.2 innings.  

Games 2 and 3 of the series are scheduled for Friday and Saturday at North Lake. Friday's game has been pushed back to 2 p.m.