DRAFFENVILLE – Thirty hits including four home runs along with 19 runs, made for a great high school Region 1 Tournament semi-final baseball game between Marshall County and McCracken County. The #1 Mustangs came out on top in the end, 12-7, but the seven Marshall runs were the second most scored on McCracken County this season and the most by four of any Region 1 team.
“They played well”, Marshall Head Coach Mike Johnson said. “We didn’t quit and when we had a chance to roll over, we didn’t, we just kept battling.”
The Mustangs will meet Calloway County in tonight’s Region 1 Championship after the Lakers defeated Ballard Memorial 1-0.
The Marshals closed their deficit twice in the game with three runs in the 5th inning and two in the 6th, but left 13 runners stranded on base in the seven innings of play.
McCracken led 3-0 right out of the gate on an RBI double by Ryan Garner, RBI single by Keegan Breese and home plate steal by Tyler Hicks.
The Marshals retired the Mustangs in the 2nd when a single by Cole Womack skirted past Hunter Jaco at third base and was picked up by Chase Bright in left field who sent a rocket back to Chandler Rogers for the tag out at home plate.
Leaving two stranded in the 2nd inning, the Marshals put their first run on the board in the 3rd that began on singles by Justice Beal and Bright and a walk by Rogers that loaded the bases on two outs when Dylan Givens reached on an error that brought Beal in for the run.
Jaco came to the mound in the 4th inning to relieve Mason Wooten who pitched the first three innings, and was welcomed by Trent Shelby with a home run over the right field fence. The Mustangs scored another run on an RBI single by Garner for a 5-1 lead.
McCracken County scored in the top of the 5th to lead 6-1, a lead that was cut to 6-4 in the bottom of the 5th on a 3-run home run by Givens.
The Mustangs stretched their lead back out to 9-4 in the top of the 6th on 2-out RBI singles by Shelby and Schneider but the Marshals would close the gap once more in the bottom of the 6th on RBI singles by Cody Clark and Jaco.
McCracken County took a bit of the wind out of the Marshals in the 7th on a 3-run home run by Breese to go up 12-6.
Blake Johnson, who was 3-5 at the plate in the game, finished off his high school career with a home run in the bottom of the 7th that was followed by a single by Beal and walk by Wooten before three straight outs ended the Marshals season.
“McCracken County’s a good team, the number one team in the state and for good reason”, Coach Johnson said.
According to Johnson, the plan from the mound was to go with three or four different people and mix things up a bit.
“We’ve looked at them enough and thought that was the best shot at them”, Johnson said. “We executed the game plan pretty well, just didn’t get the win.”
The Marshals finish off the 2015 season with a record of 24-11.
“Twenty four wins is always a great season”, Johnson said. “We battled so many injuries early on, especially on the mound. Hunter (Jaco) threw so many innings and that affected him late in the year. I think he got tired a little bit because he went up over 70 innings and we try to keep pitchers at 50. We sent him in more than we wanted to but he never said no and wanted to ball and when a kid says that his senior year, you give it to him.”
Coach Johnson said they are continuing to try and keep the tradition moving and keep building on it every year.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | ||
| McCracken | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 19 | 4 | |
| Marshall | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 11 | 1 |
HITTING
McCracken: Womack 3-5, Seitzinger 1-5, Garner 2-4 (2B, 2 RBIs), Hicks 2-4 (RBI), Breese 3-3 (HR, 3 RBIs), Walters 2-5 (RBI), Shelby 3-4 (HR, 2 RBIs), Schneider 2-3 (2 RBIs), Mathis 1-4
Marshall: Johnson 3-4 (HR, RBI), Beal 2-5, Bright 2-4, Clark 1-5 (RBI), Rogers 1-3, Givens 1-4 (HR, 3 RBIs), Jaco 1-3 (RBI)
PITCHING
McCracken: Scheer 4.1 (6 hits, 4 runs), Williams 1.2 (3 hits, 2 runs), Reinhardt 1.0 (2 hits, 1 runs)
Marshall: Wooten 3.0 (6 hits, 3 runs), Jaco 3.0 (10 hits, 6 runs), Greenfield 1.0 (3 hits, 3 runs)
