ROBERTSDALE, Ala. — Keaton Krebs is in a battle for more than a victory on the field. The Robertsdale High baseball player is also fighting leukemia. The school staff, the Central Baldwin community and his Golden Bears classmates, teachers and teammates turned out to wear “Orange for Keaton” with his name and baseball No. “25” on their jerseys Friday night in his honor and support.

The Bears’ offensive threat known as “The Punisher” to his teammates, though not feeling his best, threw a strike in a first-pitch ceremony to start the game in his honor at Kevin Raley Field with visiting Gulf Shores High.

“We’re glad we were able to honor Keaton tonight,” said Robertsdale head baseball coach Peter Bezeredi. “Not having him in our line up, certainly has been a big loss to our offense. But we want to show our support for him and how we have his back. So, we miss having him, but we want the best for him and hope it goes well in his battle.”

The Bears went on to defeat the Dolphins 5-4 and improve to 2-0 in Class 6A Area 2 play after a Game-One win at GSHS Thursday. In Game Two, Rett Files drove in Adam Gibbens in the top of the first inning for an early Dolphins’ lead. In the bottom of the second, Luke Bezeredi singled and scored for RHS on a hit by Evan Robertson, KC Keller singled in Nate Krebs, Hunter Wilson connected to score Presley Holland and Tanner Duke drove in Robertson to give the Bears a 4-1 lead.

RHS added a run in the third, then held off the Dolphins who added three more runs down the stretch. Robertsdale’s Tristian Stevens got the win. Gulf Shores won the if-needed, tie-breaker game 9-2 with Carsen Clarke going the distance on the mound for the Dolphins’ win.

Robertsdale 6, Gulf Shores 2

In Game One of the series at Gulf Shores, Luke Bezeredi delivered a double with two RBIs for the Golden Bears’ offense and Tanner Duke got the win for RHS. He struck out six through six innings to get the victory on the mound. Files took the loss for Gulf Shores but had two hits at the plate.