There was no doubt that the Lee-Davis baseball team had Cosby backed up against the wall on Thursday night. Entering the top of the seventh, the Titans trailed 4-2 and had nearly exhausted their entire pitching rotation in an effort to combat the Confederates’ steady offensive attack. Cosby went through five hurlers, including three in the sixth inning alone. But then again pitching wouldn’t matter if the Titans couldn’t get to the bottom of the seventh, which did not seem likely.

  With Lee-Davis pitcher Jordan Boze throwing in relief, Cosby had generated virtually no offense since he stepped to the mound in the fourth. Over three innings of brilliant work, Boze notched seven strikeouts versus one single on a toss-up call at first.

  But in the top of the seventh Boze hit the wall that Cosby was backed up against, looking shaky from the start.

  Titan Kyle McKay led things off with a belt that looked to be a homer but was caught by Lee-Davis’ Brandon Angus just short of the centerfield fence.

  Boze then walked Christian Hamlett on four pitches but found a hint of relief when Cosby’s Ben Sisk’s line drive to short was swallowed up by Billy Steel, putting the Titans one out from ending their night.

  But the evening was far from over. Boze then walked Christian Beyer and the pressure mounted as he also walked Travis McQueen to load the bases, bringing slugger Luke Lowery, son of Cosby head coach Tim Lowery, to the plate.

  Boze looked as if he recovered by getting two quick strikes on Lowery but the Titans’ batter worked the count full. Then on a 3-2 pitch, Lowery blasted a shot over the right-center fence for a grand slam and a 6-5 Cosby lead.

  Lee-Davis head coach Kenny Lewis could do little shake his head after the game. “You know Cosby’s going to fight until the end and they did,” he said. “That’s kind of a cool story because it’s the coach’s son who hits the grand slam. It’s one of those storybook things.”

  But Lee-Davis was not going to suffer their first loss of the season without a fight.

  With the Titans’ fifth pitcher of the game, Michael Carpenter on the mound, C-fed Hank Parsley dropped a shot to right for a single. But Parsley pushed the advantage and got caught on a pickoff at first.

  Will Connerley then singled through the gap and stole second to get into position to tie the game.

  Next up, Boze came to the plate with a chance to redeem himself and sent a Carpenter pitch deep into right. However, the ball hung up for the inning’s second out.

  But the C-feds kept battling when Billy Steel gapped a shot at short to put runners on first and third for Lee-Davis.

  It appeared the Confederates would at least tie the game when Michael Kluver sent a fly to short left, but Cosby’s Beyer raced in to make a diving catch to end the game.

  Lewis had no doubts that Boze would bounce back from the disappointing loss. “He obviously kind of hit a wall there and that’s something we’re going to look in to,” Lewis said. “Here again he’s one of our horses so we’re going to have to ride him. He knows that and I’m certain Jordan’s bothered by his performance, both Prince George and here tonight. But he showed signs of brilliance. He’s been playing basketball all winter and I think he’s got some get-used-to to get done. But I don’t doubt Boze-y for a second. He’ll be there. He’ll be fine.”

  The dramatic game saw Lee-Davis jump on Titans’ pitcher Ben Sisk in the bottom of the second when Michael Thomas hopped a shot up the middle to plate Steel. A single past second from Jacob Perks put two on for the C-feds then designated hitter Cory Thacker drilled a three run shot over right for a 4-0 Lee-Davis lead.

  “He’s the DH,” Lewis said. “He’s not the designated looker. He’s here to swing the bat. He’s a big, strong kid and he can do that.”

  Cosby answered in the top of the fourth with back-to-back homers when Sisk led off by taking Kluver’s first pitch and sending it out of the park in right center. Next up Beyer sent one out of the park in the same spot, which ironically enough was where Lowery and Thacker also hit their runs.

  In playing only their second game of the year due to weather, Lewis looked at the contest as an opportunity to learn. “We were certainly in position to finish it off and we just didn’t,” he said. “But that’s certainly a good lesson early in the year; that you’ve got to play seven. They certainly played seven. We’ll learn from it. We’ll be better from it.”

  Likewise, though the Cosby escaped with the win, Coach Lowery felt his Titans learned something from playing Lee-Davis. “I think we need to learn some base-running, a little technique on things,” he said. “Obviously getting some quality at-bats against some quality pitchers. They had two outstanding pitchers and the third kid was no slouch as well. That makes us better by seeing quality.

  “Lee-Davis has always got a quality team they put on the field and feel like we do to,” he added. “It’s a team of the Top 10 and we were just battling in there and somebody was going to win and somebody was going to lose. We just happened to be fortunate enough to come out on top.”

Cosby…................000 200 4— 6 8 0
Lee-Davis….........040 001 0— 5 8 4
Sisk, Birnbaum (5), Diesel (6), Holt (6), Carpenter (6) and Lowery; Kluver, Boze (4), Thomas (7) and Connerley. W: Carpenter. L: Boze
Highlights: Luke Lowery (C) 2 for 3, grand slam; Ben Sisk (C) 1 for 4, HR; Christian Beyer (C) 1 for 3, HR; Cory Thacker (LD) 1 for 2, 3-run HR
Records: Cosby 4-0; Lee-Davis 1-1