By JimDabbelt
Sports Writer

BRANDT – The Bethel baseball fans went from jubilation to disappointment last Thursday night, as the Bees baseball team lost a conference game to Ansonia 4-2 in 9 innings at Frosty Brown Field.  Bethel came back to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh and sent the game to extra innings, only to watch the Tigers score twice in the ninth for the win.
“I was happy with the effort,” Bethel coach Brett Brookhart said after the game.  “The schedule we are playing is ridiculous (due to the rain).” 
The Bees played their last game the previous Thursday, and their game before that on the prior Thursday.  The weather has postponed everything else.
“You can’t get any kind of rhythm offensively.  We didn’t have good at-bats today, and that’s all about getting comfortable at the plate.  The defense played well, and Bryce (Laycock) pitched a (heck) of a game.”
Ansonia jumped on the Bethel pitcher in the opening inning.  With one out, Mason Barga singled, and moved to third when Brandon Liette doubled.  A walk to Jesse Printz loaded the bases, and consecutive bloop singles from Seth Keller and Andy Grow put the Tigers up 2-0 quickly.  Laycock struck out the next two batters leaving the bases loaded.
After Bethel left two runners on in the first inning, they cut the lead in half in the second inning. 
With two outs and nothing happening, Ben Schweiterman singled, Austin Staggs walked, and Joe Zimmerman then singled in Schweiterman, putting the Bees on the scoreboard.
That’s how it stayed for awhile, as neither team could produce anything.  Ansonia left two runners on in the third, and then neither team threatened again until the sixth. 
With runners on base, Ansonia had the chance to put some distance between the two teams, but Laycock enduced Ryan Lundvall to pop out to the Bees catcher, then a ground ball turned into the inning-ending force out, kept the game at 2-1.
In the bottom of the seventh, Ben Schweiterman singled to open the inning, and moved to second on a sacrifice.  He later moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored the tying run with two outs when Scott Young doubled.  Bethel sent the game to extra innings.
Ansonia scored twice in the ninth on a two-run double from Printz, and the Bees went down without a threat in their last at-bat.
“Bryce is a three-year starting catcher for us, and it’s the first year he has pitched,” Brookhart said.  “It was his first start today, and he did a great job.”
“He went out there with confidence and threw hard, using his curve ball and got ahead of hitters.”

One aspect of the game was the number of ground balls hit by both teams, and the Bees coach attributed that to the lack of outdoor playing time.
“We got out front a little bit, and their shortstop made the plays defensively,” he said.
Bethel fell to 4-7 overall with tournament and make-up games set for this week, thanks to all the rain.
After their tournament game which was held May 9 at Brookville, the Bees have make-up games May 11 against Newton, and Arcanum on Thursday.
Weather permitting of course.