By SCOTT NOVAK
Niles Daily Star

It all boiled down to a showdown with visiting Edwardsburg for the Brandywine Bobcat baseball team Tuesday afternoon.

A year ago the Eddies swept the visiting Bobcats to earn a share of the Lakeland Conference title.

Both teams came to town Tuesday with the same thing on their minds – a league title.

Trailing 6-4 in the bottom of the seventh, things looked gloomy for Brandywine.

But a walk-off grand slam by sophomore catcher Austin Searles lifted the Bobcats to a 9-6 come-from-behind victory and the conference title.

The first game win locked up a share of the title, but Brandywine wasn’t through.

The Bobcats rolled to a 6-2 win in the nightcap and a undisputed championship.

Edwardsburg dominated the game early, taking advantage of several Brandywine errors to open up a 5-0 advantage as Austin Stinnett cleared the bases with a double in the top of the third inning.

The Bobcats cut the lead to 5-1 on a solo homerun by Ralph Sater in the fourth inning and then made it a 5-4 contest in the fifth when Buck Bourdon unloaded a three-run homerun.

Just when things were looking up for the Bobcats, the Eddies scored another run in the top of the sixth on an errors, taking some of the wind out of the Brandywine sails.

But in the bottom of the seventh, Joe Godfrey singled to open the inning and when Dustin Bell’s check swing grounder to shortstop was bobled, the Bobcats had something going.
A single by Bourdon drove in Godfrey and Bell motored around second and headed to third.

The Eddies thought they had beaten Bell to the base and tagged him out, but the umpires ruled him safe to put runners at second and third with no one out.

After a ground out to third, Brandywine coach David Sidenbender went to his bench for a pinch hitter.

Edwardsburg skipper A.J. Gaideski countered by walking Kyle King to lead the bases for Searles.

The younger promptly delivered a crushing drive to right-center field for the game-winner.

Bell worked into the sixth inning, pitching well enough to keep the Bobcats in the contest despite the numerous errors behind him.

Godfrey came on in the sixth and shut down the Eddies to give Brandywine a chance for the comeback.

The Bobcats collected nine hits of of Edwardsburg’s Zach Thompson as he went the distance.

Cody Udell, Bourdon, Godfrey and Sater all finished with two hits.

The Bobcats scored all six of their runs in the first three innings and then fended off the Eddies the rest of the way.

Sater put Brandywine ahead for good in the second inning as he doubled, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a passed ball to make it 2-1.

Sater finished the nightcap with a pair of doubles and had four hits on the day.

“I am so proud of my guys,” Brandywine coach Sidenbender said. “They had a lot of adversity and we never gave up. After graduating the caliber of players we have the last couple of years, it is just so satisfying to see these kids come through the way they have this year. We were not looked at as a front runner this year, but these guys just wanted more and they did it.”

First game

Edwardsburg	014	001	0 — 6 5 1
Brandywine	000	130	5 — 9 11 6

Zach Thompson (L, 3-3) and Wade Smous

Dustin Bell, Joe Godfrey (6-W, 5-3) and Austin Searles
2B: Austin Stinnett (E)
HR: Ralph Sater (B), Buck Bourdon (B), Austin Searles (B)

Second game

Edwardsburg	010	001	0 — 2 6 4
Brandywine	114	000	x — 6 9 0

Kyle Slack (L, 4-3) and Wade Smous

Kyle King (W, 6-1), Dustin Bell (7-S, 3) and Austin Searles
2B: Kyle Ramsey (E), Ralph Sater 2 (B), Joe Godfrey (B)
HR: Zach Thompson (E)
Varsity records: Edwardsburg 16-10, 6-4 Lakeland Conference; Brandywine 18-12, 10-2 Lakeland