The third-seeded Harrisburg Bulldog baseball team entered its game Wednesday evening as the lone area representative left standing in high school district baseball before succumbing to the first seeded Salisbury Panthers 10-3.

For the second year in a row, the Class 2, District 7 final had to be played at Battle High School in Columbia due to wet grounds at Brian T. Simpson Memorial Field in Harrisburg. Battle has the luxury of an artificial surface, therefore eliminating most rainouts.

The two teams were scoreless through an inning and a half before the Panthers scored a run in the bottom of the second to take a 1-0 lead.

The top of the third was more of the same for the Bulldogs as they were able to put only one baserunner, freshman second baseman Ike DeMuth, on base. 

Salisbury came back in the third and added four more runs on four singles and a walk to make the score 5-0. In the fourth, the Panthers added two insurance runs on two errors and two hits to take a commanding 7-0 lead.

The Bulldogs, however, refused to roll over for the Panthers. In the top of the fifth, with two outs, DeMuth singled, then advanced to second on a single by junior Anthony Alice. With runners on first and second, sophomore left fielder Carter Bremer doubled to drive in DeMuth and Alicea, cutting the Salisbury lead to 7-2.

Salisbury got one of those runs back in the bottom of the frame to widen Harrisburg’s deficit to 8-2. 

Still trying to remain in the game, the Bulldogs showed they still had a little bite left in the top of the sixth. Junior Logan Fritts tripled to deep center then scored on a sacrifice fly to right by senior Tanner Lanes. That run, however, ended the Bulldog uprising, leaving the score 8-3.

Salisbury, not willing to rest on its laurels, added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to make the score 10-3.

In the top of the seventh, the end of the game came quickly for the Bulldogs as Ott grounded out to second, followed by senior pinch hitter Gavin Curtis going down on strikes. With two outs, Alicea drew a walk and gave way to junior pinch runner Jordan Sager. The uprising was quickly squelched when Bremer forced Sager into an out on a fielder’s choice with a sharp grounder to short to end the game at 10-3.

Alicea started the game on the mound for the Bulldogs. As usual he mixed a variety of pitches in an attempt to keep the Panther hitters off balance. Although Alicea pitched five innings and struck out eight, his shining moment may well have been in the bottom of the fourth with a runner on third and two outs. The Salisbury batter had a 1-2 count then fouled off two pitches. Alicea then delivered a particularly nasty curveball that started out looking as if it were headed straight for the batter’s head. The batter, Salisbury junior Ryan Binder, bailed out of the way, only to hear the umpire call strike three to end the inning, leaving Binder to walk to the dugout shaking his head.

Austin Darwent came on in relief of Alicea in the sixth. The junior gave up one hit in the inning.

In addition to the eight strikeouts, Alicea allowed only eight hits and four earned runs.

On offense, DeMuth and Fritts led the attack for the Bulldogs, each with two hits, with one of Fritts’ being the aforementioned triple. Alicea, Bremer and Darwent each contributed singles.

On the season, coach Chris Ackman’s Bulldogs finished 15-15, taking second in the district.