After facing off against top ranking schools across Illinois, Tennessee and Kentucky last week, the McCracken County Mustangs were straight back at it with another stiff test on Monday, meeting the fourth ranked Rossview Hawks at home. Following their narrow loss to Trinity to end their weekend, the Mustangs would work their way straight back into the win column, picking up a 4-2 victory.
Gage Reeves would earn the win in his first varsity start, putting forward five innings of solid work. Across the outing, Reeves allowed two earned on three hits, picking up a pair of strikeouts.
“For his first varsity start, Gage did a great job for us for five innings, and really executed on his pitches,” McCracken County head coach Zach Hobbs said following the win. “Got a little fatigued down the stretch, but we’re really proud of the outing. What a first start against a really high quality opponent like that.”
The Mustangs would find success against Rossview started Aiden Smith early on, with Caden Kern picking up his first of four walks on the night with one away in the first. An error in the field from the Hawks off a Braden Truitt single would allow Kern to score from first, putting the Mustangs on the board. While Justin English would record his first single of a 3-for-4 evening, nothing else would come across for McCracken, who led 1-0 after the first.
Off the back of a clean first two innings for Reeves, the Mustang bats would keep things going in the second to build on their lead. Starting with a leadoff double ripped down the line by Will Fox, the Mustangs would load up the bases with one away, leading to Kern walking again to bring home the run. Two straight fly-outs would strand three for the Mustangs, holding the lead to a pair through two.
Walks would prove to be a recurring problem for the Hawks, after the Mustangs again loaded up the bases with no outs in the fourth. While two more walks would double the Mustang lead, three straight outs would see them leave three on for the second time on the night, taking a four-run lead into the fifth.
“We’ve got to do a better job at scoring some of these guys, we left a lot of runners on base today,” Hobbs continued, looking more at the Mustangs’ offense. “On Saturday we were one hit away, and it felt like today we were one hit away from really busting it open. We might be doing a little too much at the plate, pressing a little bit, but we’ll get it straightened out.
Having only allowed a single hit through four, the Hawks would finally get to Reeves in the fifth, putting up two runs on a single, triple, and sacrifice fly to get on the board.
However, Reeves would close out the inning without any further damage, giving way to Truitt in relief for the sixth. Truitt would strike out a pair in the two-inning save, stranding a pair in the top of the seventh to close the door on a 4-2 win for the Mustangs.
“Team-wise, we played a great game...We ran a couple guys out that haven’t gotten out in a few days; [Joshua] Penrod got in, picked up a hit, and we had Fox and English looking good for us at the plate.” Hobbs continued. “We had a great BP today, but it didn’t translate as well to the field as we hoped with the amount of fly balls we hit. But we’ll get at it tomorrow, tweak some things in the cage, get suited up and go again.”
The mid-season gauntlet continues for the Mustangs this evening, as they travel to face off against Lyon County, fresh off of their All “A” Classic State Championship.
“Lyon County are a great club, coach Baker does a great job with them. After the All “A” tournament I’m not sure what they have left for pitching, but we’ll go over there and get right back at it,” Hobbs concluded. “I love this time of the year. It’s busy, it’s stressful, but we’re putting out guys in positions to succeed, and see what works for us before the postseason...We want to be better for then.”
First pitch between the Mustangs and Lyons is set for 5:30 p.m.
MCCRACKEN COUNTY 4, ROSSVIEW 2
RSSV 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 — 2 5 3
MCHS 1 1 0 2 0 0 X — 4 7 1
WP: G. Reeves; LP: A. Smith; SV: B. Truitt
2B: MCHS — W. Fox
3B: RSSV — H. Hebert
TB: MCHS — J. English 3, W. Fox 2, B. Casebier 1, B. Truitt 1, J. Penrod 1; RSSV — H. Hebert 4, A. Kemp 1, C. Slaughter 1, J. Perry 1
HBP: MCHS — K. Dunnning
SB: MCHS — J. Penrod
SF: RSSV — J. Perry
E: MCHS — K. Dunning; RSSV — C. Lattimore 2, J. Cabaleiro
RECORDS: McCracken County (15-6); Rossview (29-5-1)