BERNE — Though the Berne-Knox-Westerlo baseball team lost two games last week and won just one, Coach Jeff Teats has seen some improvement from his young players.

The Bulldogs played tough against two of the top teams in the Western Athletic Conference and beat up on one of the weaker teams.
"We are obviously on our way," Teats said. "We know we are capable of playing with anybody."

Fonda-Fultonville came into the May 2 contest against BKW with an unbeaten record and escaped with a win but it took an extra inning.

BKW held the lead, 2-1, going into the top half of the seventh inning but Fonda tied it to send the game into extra innings. Fonda scored three runs in the top of the eighth to win the game, 5-2.

Josh Skinner started the game on the mound and gave up just four hits before leaving in the seventh inning.

The Bulldogs scored a run in the third inning, as Jeremy Springer scored on a sacrifice fly out by Ben Burton.

BKW then tacked on another run in the sixth inning. Jeremy Mann singled then stole second base and would later score in the inning.
"We got really excited," Teats said. "We had a lead on the first-place team in the top of the seventh."

The Braves, though, got a runner on base and the next hitter smacked a triple that scored one run. A wild throw allowed the second run to score on the play and tied the game.
"Out of our slump"

On Friday, BKW took on Fort Plain, another tough team in the Northern Division of the WAC. The Hilltoppers came into the game with a 7-2 record.

BKW lost the contest, 6-3, but held a lead in the first five innings.

The Bulldogs were up 3-1 but gave up two runs in the sixth inning to allow the Hilltoppers to tie the game. Fort Plain then took the lead with three runs in the seventh inning.

Burton pitched four-and-a-third innings for the Bulldogs and gave up just one run.

Bobby Patrick had two singles and two runs batted in for BKW. Skinner also hit two singles for the Bulldogs.

BKW came out on Monday and smacked the baseball around in beating Saint Johnsville, 24-0.
"We were able to finally break out of our hitting slump," Teats said.

The Bulldogs amassed 21 hits in the contest.

Rich Geist has three singles and a home run to accumulate three RBIs. Rick Ragone has two singles, two doubles, and five RBIs for the Bulldogs.

Greg Mulson hit three singles and a double and drove in two runs, and Mann hit a single, a triple, and had five RBIs for BKW.

The Bulldogs are now 3-8 on the season. They played a non-league game against Maple Hill on Tuesday and a league game against Mayfield on Wednesday. BKW then plays at Galway on Friday and hosts Duanesburg on Monday.