Devils burn Cubs in nine

BELL CITY -- Andy Hendrix found himself in a familiar position at the plate in the ninth inning Tuesday.

The bases were loaded. There was one out. Bell City had its ace on the mound. The game was on the line.

In the seventh inning, under the same circumstances, he popped out to second.

Hendrix's second try was a success.

Barely.

Bell City starter Cody Bailey delivered a pitch to a Chaffee batter. Bailey pitched into the sixth inning. (Fred Lynch)

Hendrix shot a grounder at second base, and he didn't like the look of things as he headed toward first.

"I was like oh, they're going to get the runner out at the plate," Hendrix said.

But about halfway up the line, he saw the ball squirt between the Bell City second baseman's legs and into right field. Two runs scored on the play.

"I was relieved," Hendrix said.

The Red Devils (9-3) added three more runs then fought off a furious Cubs rally to hold on for a 9-6 victory over Bell City (3-3).

"That last inning when they scored those runs, it wasn't really like he [pitcher Nick Niemczyk] did anything wrong," Bell City coach Matt Asher said. "We had the shortstop kind of kick one and the second baseman kick one. We played well for eight of the nine innings and that one inning got us beat."

Adam Uhrhan, who followed Hendrix in the batting order, got a little redemption at the plate in the ninth as well. He flew out to right field to leave the bases loaded in the seventh. In the ninth, his team had just taken the lead on Hendrix's grounder and runners were on first and third. Uhrhan drilled a fastball to left-center field that made it all the way to the fence. Two runs scored on the double.

"I just tried to put the ball in play," Uhrhan said. "I just tried to find a good ball to hit, sit back on it and try to hit a ground ball. I tried to keep it out of the air."

Chaffee pushed the lead to five runs on Zach McDaniel's perfect bunt down the third-base line that barely stayed fair. The Red Devils would need all the runs to hold on.

The Cubs went to work in their half of the ninth. Cody Bailey and Nick Niemczyk belted back-to-back solo home runs to left field to pull Bell City within three runs. After a walk and a single, the Cubs had the tying run at the plate in Chris Wright.

"I have to admit, yeah, I did get a little nervous," Uhrhan said. "But I figured we'd come out with it."

Wright hit a hard grounder to Hendrix, who stepped on third base then threw to first for the game-ending double play.

"We're not going to give up," Asher said. "Our kids are going to keep battling, but we just got to get over the hump. We beat the teams I think we should beat, but sometimes we struggle against the teams that would be a quality win for us."

Bell City's defense kept it in the game early as the Cubs threw out three Chaffee base runners at the plate. Another Chaffee base runner barely beat the throw to the plate.

"I just try to stop the ball and make sure you don't give up those runs," said Bell City catcher Melvin Johnson, who went 4-for-5 at the plate.

The outs at the plate ended the first and fifth innings and was the second out in the sixth.

"We probably should have those runs," Uhrhan said. "It kind of hurt us, but we were able to come back in the end and finally got it done."

Bell City jumped ahead 3-1 in the third inning, thanks to a two-run single by Johnson. The Cubs rode the strong outing by Bailey, who scattered five hits over five innings before running into trouble in the sixth.

"At the plate today, we didn't take a real good approach," Chaffee coach Brian Horrell said. "We were up there swinging, and I guess they were trying to swing for the fences because we were really popping up a lot of things."

The Red Devils finally broke out against Bailey in the sixth, forcing Asher to bring in Niemczyk.

"That's just what you need from your pitchers," Asher said. "My starting pitcher, he's a senior, he's been playing for four years. He's been battling his guts out. Probably got a little tired in the sixth."

Chaffee 9, Bell City 6

Chaffee 100 003 005 -- 9 13 0

Bell City 003 100 002 -- 6 13 3

WP -- Chris Hanback. LP -- Nick Niemczyk. 2B -- Chris Hanback (C), Adam Uhrhan (C), Nick Niemczyk (BC). HR -- Cody Bailey (BC), Nick Niemczyk (BC). Multiple hits -- Chaffee, Andy Hendrix 2-for-5, Josh Steger 3-for-4, Chris Hanback 3-for-5, Adam Uhrhan 3-for-5; Bell City, Leonard Schaefer 2-for-3, Cody Bailey 2-for-4, Nick Niemczyk 2-for-5, Eddie Green 3-for-5, Melvin Johnson 4-for-5. Records -- Chaffee 9-3, Bell City 3-3.