Dublin…You ever have one of those days when the harder you try the worse things get? The Cougars baseball team seemed to have one of those as they would take one step forward and two steps back. One big inning for them got them a hard fought 6-5 Conference 24 first round victory over a very determined William Fleming Colonels squad.
Pulaski Co. (12-8-1) came from behind not once, but twice to steal victory from defeat. They were down 2-0 going into the bottom of the fourth and with runners on second and third and no one out, the next two batters struck out swinging. Then a wild pitch by the Colonels pitcher, Brandon Hall, got them on the scoreboard. Then another wild pitch brought Kam Hall across the plate to tie the game. Two runs on two wild pitches. The game would get wilder, crazier and more intense after that.
Wm. Fleming (1-18) would go right back in front in their half of the fifth. With one out, Hall would hit a fielders choice for out number two. Noah Melton singled as did Aaron Faust, and Hall would score on an error by the Cougars. Then the wildest and craziest inning of the game occurred for both teams in the sixth. The Colonels lead-off man would line out to the Cougars second baseman Jordan Lytton. Hayden Huddleston singled to center and Robert Butler walked. The Cougars would then take their starting pitcher senior Thomas Anderson out and replace him with senior Dylan Danner. He proceeded to walk Bryce Johnson to load the bases with just one out. Hall then hit a slow roller to second that was bobbled. That allowed Huddleston to score for a 4-2 Fleming advantage. Melton then would hit a sacrifice fly ball to left that was caught by Braeden Blevins for the second out, and Colonels Butler tagged at third to make it 5-2. Then as the throw was headed home, the runner at second tagged and went to third and the runner at first took off for second. As the Cougars would throw the ball toward second base, Johnson kept heading for home. The Cougars would tag Hall going into second for the final out of the inning. After a brief exchange between the two squads, one thinking they had went up 6-2 and the other knowing they had gotten the third out of the inning. The two teams would exchange words and the umpires would have to step in to help break things up. When told by the home plate umpire only two runs scored because the third runner hadn’t crossed the plate before the Cougars had gotten the third out on the play at second base, Fleming head coach Chad Huddleston argued the run should have counted and the Cougar squad was fired up because they had avoided a huge third run of the inning. On this hot afternoon, this play seemed to intensify the friction between players and fans for both teams. The weather and fans temperature both had gotten heated.
In the Cougars’ half of the sixth, Kam Hall was hit by a pitch up around his head to make things hotter right off. Hunter Shrewsbury would then hit a “gapper” to right center that sent Hall to third and the Cougars were in business down 5-2. Camden Underwood and Tyler Waddell both would make outs that left the runners still on second and third. One on a pop-out to short and the other popped out to the pitcher. Senior Jordan Lytton then stroked a single to left that scored both Hall and Shrewsbury cutting the deficit to 5-4. Trent Blankenship would drive a single to center, and he moved to second on the relay throw. Braeden Blevins then hit a slicing double to left field that drove in both Lytton and Blankenship to give the fired up Cougars and their fans a lead for the first time in the contest, 6-5.
Danner, going out on the mound now with a chance to be the winning pitcher, seemed to pick up his performance in the top of the seventh as he caught a soft liner right back to him for the first out. He then would blow a fastball by Ross Munford for out number two. Mike Jones would step up to the plate and hit a come-backer to Danner, who would toss the ball to Hall at first for the final out. The Cougar fans jump for joy as the Fleming fans fume in their disappointment. With the two teams shaking hands, the William Fleming coach would holler at the home plate ump that he was protesting the game. The umpire just kept walking away, and the fans of both teams kept jawing at each other. It was a hotly contested game on a very hot day and a very hard fought game for the winners and losers.
Cougar head coach Jared King remarked, ”This was a hard earned win. Fleming played extremely well and their pitcher kept us off balance on the day until we finally got to him for some key hits in the sixth inning.” Coach King then said, “The weather was hot, the players got hot, the fans got hot and this was a playoff-tournament baseball game. Thomas (Anderson ) pitched well for us as did Dylan Danner. We got big hits from Lytton and Blevins there in the sixth that finally put us on top. This was a classic survive and advance type of ball game. I’m very proud of how we hung in there in the face of adversity, and we battled. This time of year you’re going to get people’s best shot.”
Fleming got two hits from Mike Jones and Noah Melton and both scored a run. Hall, Matthew Lewis-Ball, Ross Munford and Melton all had an RBI. Hall went 5.2 innings on the mound surrendering six runs on seven hits, as he walked three and struck out three.
Pulaski Co. got two hits from Kam Hall and Lytton. Blevins and Lytton both drove in two runs. Hall scored twice and Shrewsbury also produced two and scored once. Anderson went 5.1 innings on the mound giving up five runs of which only three were earned. He also hit two batters and walked two and gave up nine hits. Danner went 1.1 innings, facing six batters, no runs, no hits, struck out one and walked one as he picked up the win. The Cougars will now travel to Salem to play the Spartans at Kiwanis Field Monday at 6:00 pm. in a Conference 24 Semifinal game.
R H E LOB
Pulaski Co. 6 7 3 6
Wm. Fleming 5 9 1 7
Pulaski Co. – WP – Danner – (3-4)
Wm. Fleming- LP – Hall