BOURNEMOUTH Bears’ AAA team won their fifth and sixth games in a row, seeing off the Milton Keynes Bucks twice in style.
On a perfect day for baseball, the Bears got their bats working early and often as they moved to 8-2 on the season with 13-4 and 11-2 wins and held onto top spot in the AAA South West Division, writes Andy Moore.
Game one saw Jose Lopez back on the mound after a performance which saw him named 'national player of the week' by BaseballSoftballUK. The Venezuelan did not miss a beat, as he struck out eight Bucks’ batters on the way to his fifth win of the season.
After a tight four innings, which saw the Bears establish a 3-2 lead, Lopez drove in Ben Hyde to open the game up in the fifth. Jose Bobadilla and Lopez then came round to score in the same inning, as Bournemouth established an unassailable lead.
In the sixth Carlos Velazco drove in a run and scored on a stolen base, before Ashley Neal, Juan Miguel Ortega and Bobadilla all drove in runs to put the cherry on top of a 13-4 victory.
Building on a strong start to the season, Marcus Lopes got the start in game two. After he picked up his first win against the Taunton Rebeldes, Lopes went one better against the Bucks by pitching the full game and earning the win - only allowing two earned runs on six hits.
Through another tight four innings, the Bears led 2-1 thanks to an RBI from Lopez and good base running from Neal.
However, in the fifth Bournemouth seized on two pitching changes to secure their second win of the day.
Roger Cedeno came to the plate with the bases loaded and drove in all three runners with a big double to left field and the away side increased their lead to 7-1.
Then, to top off the day and send the Bears back down the M3 in style, Tom Walker picked up his first hit of the season, driving in debutant Weicheng Liao in the process.
The game ended 11-2, with Lopes named player of the day.
Bears now shift their focus onto a big home-stand against the Bristol Badgers on Sunday.
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