Visiting Cook battled back from a 10-2 deficit to record a wild 13-11 victory over Ware County in junior varsity action.
The Monday, March 23 comeback was fueled by an eight-run fifth inning handing the Gators (8-5) a fourth loss in five games. The Hornets beat Ware County 9-7 February 23 in Adel.
The Hornets, who managed just four hits, capitalized on 11 walks and six errors with just four of the 13 runs earned.
Ware County used four pitchers with Lucas Howard (4 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 4 K, 6 BB) getting the start. He was followed by Chaden Carter (.1 IP, 0 H, 6 R, 0 ER, 0 K, 4 BB, 2 WP), Trace Crosby (o IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 K, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 2 WP) and Ashton Suess (2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 K, 2 BB).
Cook put runners on base in each of the first five innings before Suess retired the last eight Hornets.
After Cook scored on a two-out single in the first, the Gators responded with five runs in the bottom of the inning to grab a 5-1 lead.
Carter’s (2-for-2) RBI double with one out evened the score at 1apiece. Hayes Sweat’s (2for-4) two-run double two batters later gave the Gators a 3-1 lead. Howard’s (3-for-3) twoout, bloop single scored the final two runs for the four-run advantage.
Each team took turns scoring a run in the second. The Hornets plated a run in the second on a one-out, sacrifice fly cutting the lead to 5-2.
Ware County answered with Carter lifting a oneout sacrifice fly, pushing the lead back to four runs at 6-2.
The Gators scored four times in the bottom of the third after loading the bases with nobody out to open up a 10-2 advantage. Howard drove home the first run with a sacrifice fly, Brodie Burchett (1-for-3) followed with a two-run single, with the final run scoring on an error on a ball hit by Suess (1-for-3).
The Hornets started their comeback with a three-run fourth. The big blow was a one-out, bases loaded clearing triple to get to within 10-5.
Cook sent 13 batters to the plate in an eight-run fifth to take a 13-10 lead. The Hornets had 10 batters reach with five drawing walks, one was hit by a pitch, there was one hit and three errors.
Ware County scored a final run in the seventh, with Carter scoring from first on a single by Reves Barnes (1-for-4) aided by an outfield error.
