By Nick Brockman, Messenger Sports Reporter nbrockman@the-messenger.com
For now, the Madisonville-North Hopkins baseball team sits alone atop the Region 2 regular season standings after a rocky, yet hard-earned win Tuesday evening against Henderson County at Elmer Kelley Stadium.
The Maroons (16-7, 10-1 2nd Region) jumped out to a five-run lead despite encountering several baserunning miscues, but then surrendered three runs in the sixth inning before escaping with a 5-3 victory against the Colonels (15-5, 5-2).
"That's a big win for us, not that we're in awe of those guys, but we respect them," North coach Scott Vance said. "Hopefully, they respect us and that's two pretty good baseball programs going at it, and fortunately tonight we came out on top."
North led 1-0 after three innings before scoring a pair in both the fourth and fifth to extend the lead to 5-0.
Maroon starter Ben Campbell rolled until the sixth inning when Henderson sent seven batters to the plate. Leadoff hitter Jordan Cessna started the offensive outburst by reaching via walk after North failed to retire the batter on two separate pop foul balls. Then, Gage Thompson singled to left field.
Next up, the Colonels' No. 3 hitter, Kyle Gibson, laid down a sacrifice bunt. Campbell fielded the bunt, but his throw sailed down the right field line, allowing both runners to score and Gibson to advance to third.
Campbell settled down to retire the next Colonel hitter on strikes, but then allowed an RBI single to center to cut the North advantage to just two runs. Henderson failed to pull any closer, though.
The Maroons (16-7, 10-1 2nd Region) jumped out to a five-run lead despite encountering several baserunning miscues, but then surrendered three runs in the sixth inning before escaping with a 5-3 victory against the Colonels (15-5, 5-2).
"That's a big win for us, not that we're in awe of those guys, but we respect them," North coach Scott Vance said. "Hopefully, they respect us and that's two pretty good baseball programs going at it, and fortunately tonight we came out on top."
North led 1-0 after three innings before scoring a pair in both the fourth and fifth to extend the lead to 5-0.
Maroon starter Ben Campbell rolled until the sixth inning when Henderson sent seven batters to the plate. Leadoff hitter Jordan Cessna started the offensive outburst by reaching via walk after North failed to retire the batter on two separate pop foul balls. Then, Gage Thompson singled to left field.
Next up, the Colonels' No. 3 hitter, Kyle Gibson, laid down a sacrifice bunt. Campbell fielded the bunt, but his throw sailed down the right field line, allowing both runners to score and Gibson to advance to third.
Campbell settled down to retire the next Colonel hitter on strikes, but then allowed an RBI single to center to cut the North advantage to just two runs. Henderson failed to pull any closer, though.
During the seventh, Campbell sent the Colonels down in order and struck out the final two batters of the game. Campbell finished the game with eight strikeouts and allowed just five hits.
Offensively for the Maroons, the home squad did not take long to get on the scoreboard. Catcher Dalton Lykins started the second inning with a double to left field and eventually scored on a Zach Baird RBI single to left.
Unfortunately, later in the inning, North lost a baserunner when Aaron Young attempted to advance to third on a wild pitch and was thrown out by the Henderson catcher.
Then, in the fourth, the Maroons nearly committed another baserunning blunder with one out and men on second and first. With Baird at the plate, he ripped a single to left. Vance gave Justin Lamb a stop sign as he rounded third, but Young continued toward third.
The Colonels defense noticed the development and pitcher Christian McHatton attempted to tag Lamb in the baseline midway between third and home. McHatton lunged at Lamb, but dropped the ball, allowing the runner to score safely and take a 2-0 lead. Later in the same inning, Matt Levin scored on a wild pitch.
North struck for two more runs in the fifth inning. Campbell doubled Ryan Quinn home to push the advantage to 4-0. Campbell then advanced to third on a passed ball and Micah Rainwater brought him in to score on a sacrifice fly to conclude the Maroon scoring on the evening.
Although Henderson scored in just one inning, the North defense made a spectacular play in the fourth to keep the Colonels off the board. Left fielder Dylan Bailey smacked a double to left field, but got greedy and made his way toward third. Quinn grabbed the ball near the fence and fired to shortstop Michael Huddleston, who then turned to fire to Lamb, who applied the tag for the inning's second out.
Despite a few mistakes during the contest, North managed to pull out the win and Vance said such a victory against a quality opponent may point the team toward further success in the coming weeks.
"It could be a little bit of an emotional lift, it could be a little bit of a psychological lift," Vance said. "The bottom line is that was a good brand of baseball we played tonight and hopefully we'll just take that and build on that."
North returns to action at 6 p.m. Thursday at Crittenden County.
Offensively for the Maroons, the home squad did not take long to get on the scoreboard. Catcher Dalton Lykins started the second inning with a double to left field and eventually scored on a Zach Baird RBI single to left.
Unfortunately, later in the inning, North lost a baserunner when Aaron Young attempted to advance to third on a wild pitch and was thrown out by the Henderson catcher.
Then, in the fourth, the Maroons nearly committed another baserunning blunder with one out and men on second and first. With Baird at the plate, he ripped a single to left. Vance gave Justin Lamb a stop sign as he rounded third, but Young continued toward third.
The Colonels defense noticed the development and pitcher Christian McHatton attempted to tag Lamb in the baseline midway between third and home. McHatton lunged at Lamb, but dropped the ball, allowing the runner to score safely and take a 2-0 lead. Later in the same inning, Matt Levin scored on a wild pitch.
North struck for two more runs in the fifth inning. Campbell doubled Ryan Quinn home to push the advantage to 4-0. Campbell then advanced to third on a passed ball and Micah Rainwater brought him in to score on a sacrifice fly to conclude the Maroon scoring on the evening.
Although Henderson scored in just one inning, the North defense made a spectacular play in the fourth to keep the Colonels off the board. Left fielder Dylan Bailey smacked a double to left field, but got greedy and made his way toward third. Quinn grabbed the ball near the fence and fired to shortstop Michael Huddleston, who then turned to fire to Lamb, who applied the tag for the inning's second out.
Despite a few mistakes during the contest, North managed to pull out the win and Vance said such a victory against a quality opponent may point the team toward further success in the coming weeks.
"It could be a little bit of an emotional lift, it could be a little bit of a psychological lift," Vance said. "The bottom line is that was a good brand of baseball we played tonight and hopefully we'll just take that and build on that."
North returns to action at 6 p.m. Thursday at Crittenden County.
No comments:
Post a Comment