ROBERTSDALE — On the final day of the Prep Baseball Report South Alabama Showdown Saturday, the Robertsdale Golden Bears hounded out two wins in their final two games by close margins over Fairhope (5-4) and Daphne (10-8).

Andrew McDaniel provided the walk-off hit that scored Brayden Douglas in the first game against the Pirates then was part of two four-run innings in the second game which helped withstand a big inning from the Trojans.

Golden Bear head baseball coach Peter Bezeredi said his team found ways to get the job done at the end of a three-day event that saw games played in Robertsdale as well as Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.

“We were scrappy today, took advantage of some opportunities the other team gave us,” Bezeredi said Saturday night. “We’ve had a tough last stretch so I’m proud of how resilient we’ve been and how we’ve just been real scrappy today.”

Robertsdale gets better against solid competition

That tough stretch started last Friday in Fairhope where the Pirates opened their season with a 10-1 win and handed the first of three straight losses to the Golden Bears. While Bezeredi said he was certainly pleased to get the win, vengeance wasn’t exactly on their minds Saturday.

“Fairhope’s a fine team, they’ve got a senior-laden team and anytime you can just stay in the game with someone and give yourself a chance to win late, that’s a positive,” Bezeredi said. “Of course, I’m tickled to death to get that win, but they’ve got a fine club and you’ve got to play good people to get better.”

Robertsdale certainly saw another good team in the nightcap against the Daphne Trojans, led by freshman shortstop and Tennessee commit Steele Hall who delivered the go-ahead RBIs before he pitched the final inning to earn a save on the mound in Daphne’s first game Saturday.

FINAL: Daphne 6 Tuscaloosa County 3. Steele Hall collects the save and gets the Trojans in the win column once again. They’ll be back in action after our next game, Robertsdale-Fairhope, which is getting closer to starting #ALHSBaseball pic.twitter.com/sTvzFAisI0

— Gulf Coast Media Sports (@GCMSportsAL) February 25, 2023

After a nearly two-and-a-half-hour game against Fairhope, Bezeredi said the Golden Bears’ energy for the nightcap was still high.

“It’s been a long weekend for everybody but my guys kept their focus and were able to put up a couple runs early,” Bezeredi said.

Offense leads to defense

Robertsdale put up a four-spot in both the second and third innings which helped weather a five-run fifth inning from the Trojans. The Golden Bears sent nine to the plate in the second and eight in the third where Cole Bolton, Thadeus Scott, Chris Weeks, Ethan Parnell, Douglas and McDaniel all hit the plate.

Nic Cox was the first of five Daphne batters to reach base in the five-run fifth that saw him come around to score as well as Maddox Eady, Mason Owens, Jay Davidson and Hall. After that, Robertsdale pitchers allowed only two walks, one hit and one run to seal the win.

“We were struggling to hit the ball some the last couple games and we just got some timely hits and put the ball in play and made the defense do some things. We were able to scrap together a couple hits,” Bezeredi said. “Our pitchers, at times, still struggled with their command. They did a little bit better job today with command in the zone but we’ve got a lot to improve upon defensively, pitching all that but definitely a step in the right direction today.”

Up next

Robertsdale improved to 3-3 on the season where Fairhope and Daphne fell to 3-4 and 3-3, respectively.

The Golden Bears and Trojans will be in action again Monday where Robertsdale is set to host St. Michael Catholic and Daphne is scheduled to host McGill-Toolen.

A rubber match between the Pirates and Golden Bears is Fairhope’s next scheduled contest Tuesday evening back in Robertsdale.

Money quote

“It’s time to play baseball, we’ve got four games this week, four games the next so it’s time to get going,” Bezeredi said. “The weather has been great so let’s play ball.”