BOUNTIFUL -- The Bountiful Braves' U-16 baseball team suffered a disappointing loss to the Jordan Beet Diggers on Tuesday night 9-6, dropping their record to 6-6 on the season. The Braves had enjoyed a 6-1 lead going into the final inning but couldn't hold on as Jordan took over in the top of the seventh.

The Braves had been having one of their best games of summer season up until that point.

Bountiful took the lead early in the game when Zach Jones smashed a double deep down the left foul line that sent home Corbin Brown. Jordan fired back in the second with a run to tie the score at 1-1 heading into the second.

The Braves held tough and with good pitching by Adam Dell and a solid defensive effort in the outfield headed into the bottom of the third still knotted at one apiece.

That's when the Braves exploded.

Landon Faveron rocked a ball to deep center, which broke the tie in the Braves' favor. Another quick base hit made the score 3-1 for Bountiful.

Minutes later, Zach Jones crushed a deep ball for a triple, which drove home two more Brave runners and ratcheted up the score 5-1 with no outs.

The Braves scored once more before getting another run on a Jordan error and ended the wild inning 6-1.

"Zach had a nice triple, we got some good hits, and scored some runs," said Mark Lalli, head coach for the Bountiful summer team. "But you got to play every inning."

The Braves did play every inning except the last one.

As the game wore on, Bountiful continued to get strong pitching from Dell and resilient defense from their outfield.

The boys in red held the Beet Diggers scoreless for three straight innings and looked to be in control of the game and on their way to their seventh win of the season.

That's when it all fell apart for the Braves.

Jordan started off the seventh with a base hit. Seconds later a Beet Digger triple scored a run and left a man at third with no outs. Then a Jordan pop fly was hauled in by the Bountiful defense to leave things at 6-2 for Bountiful with the Braves a double play away from ending the ball game early.

After pitching a great game, coach Lalli relieved Dell and put in Jones in order to have a fresh arm finish the game. A short time later, the Beet Diggers loaded the bases and Bountiful looked to be in trouble with the tying run coming to plate.

Jordan was able to score once more, cutting the lead to three. The Beet Diggers still had hope and, more importantly, more ammo to throw at the Braves.

Jones helped the Braves dodge bullet number one when he stopped a sure base hit on the mound and threw out a would-be score at home.

However, Jordan had another shot left in their gun.

The next Beet Digger crushed a ball deep to left field. The Brave defense made a solid effort to corral the long ball but just mishandled it, giving the green light to Beet Diggers and sending home three runs, tying the game up at six apiece.

The game went to extra innings and Jordan kept the momentum rolling by scoring three runs in the top of the eighth making the score 9-6 for Jordan.

Bountiful had a final crack at trying to get back into the game during the bottom of the inning but with solid pitching and defense the Beet Diggers escaped with the victory.

"They hit the ball, you have to give them credit," Lalli said after the disappointing loss. "We had an opportunity to get a double play (in the seventh) and we just had a mental breakdown. That would have ended the game. But, those things happen and when they do, you usually lose."

The Braves played tough, had a monster third inning and were in control for most of the game. However, coach Lalli said it takes more than one inning to win a baseball game.

"You got to play every inning," Lalli said. "Hopefully we'll learn that one inning is not enough to a win a game. You've got to play all seven."

Lalli was optimistic and added that his young team is learning and getting better.

In the end, that's what summer baseball is all about.

thatch@davisclipper.com