By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
The Dowagiac varsity baseball team rallied several times and then stopped a Battle Creek Central rally in the top of the seventh to preserve a 7-6 victory Tuesday afternoon at Rotary Park.
The Chieftains (16-3) rallied from a 3-0 deficit and a 4-3 deficit to earn the non-conference victory.
The win, however, wasn't secure until Jonathon Bartee took a relay throw 10-feet behind second base and fired a strike to catcher Matt Stewart to nail the tying run at the plate.
Battle Creek used a variety of dink hits and a few Chieftain mistakes to open up a 3-0 lead in the top half of the first inning.
Dowagiac chipped away at the Central lead, scoring single runs in the first, second and third innings to knot the score.
Battle Creek Central reclaimed the lead with a run in the top of the fourth, however, Dowagiac scored three times in the bottom of the fourth to take a 6-4 lead.
The Chieftains increased their lead to 7-4 with a run in the sixth before the Bearcats scored twice in the top of the seventh to make things interesting.
Chris Singleton worked the first six innings and picked up the victory for the Chieftains as he allowed six runs on five hits with six strikeouts and just two walks.
Jason McIntyre worked the seventh and picked up the save as he allowed one run on one hit.
Dowagiac finished with five hits, led by Carlson who was 2-for-3. Jeff Cooper had an RBI single, while Richie Burling and Stewart had the other hits for the Chieftains.
Dowagiac, which has now won 11 straight contests, returns to action on Thursday when it travels to Kalamazoo to face Big-16 Conference foe Loy Norrix.
Correction
Davey Moran is now 4-1 on the season. His record was reported as 3-1 in Tuesday's Daily News. We regret the error.
Battle Creek 300 100 2 -- 6 6 4
Dowagiac 111 301 x -- 7 5 4
Chris Singleton (W, 4-1), Brandon Jones (L)