The Patrick County Cougars welcomed Allegheny on May 3 for a game that had all the atmosphere of a playoff game, and for the first five innings lived up to the hype. A 10-run 6th inning blew the game wide open and lifted the Cougars to an 11-2 victory, their 16th of the season.
In the Cougars half of the first inning, Gavin Fain led things off with a base hit single, taking second on a passed ball. A Noah Jessup sacrifice bunt moved Fain third and a Tucker Swails line drive to left brought him in for the game’s first run.
Starting pitcher Tucker Swails got some help from his fielders in the second to keep Alleghany off the board. Calvin Lancaster raced in to make a great catch in right center, preventing an extra base hit. On first, Broc Taylor went down to grab a ball in the dirt, securing the third out on a solid piece of fielding.
Alleghany tied the game in the third and took a one run lead in the fourth. With runners on and one out, Tucker Swails prevented any further runs by striking out the next two Alleghany batters.
Rain began falling in the fourth, and the Patrick County bats went cold, going hitless in the third, fourth and fifth innings. The only Cougar to reach base was hit by a pitch.
In the top of the sixth, Tucker Swails, with rain coming down, pitched a one-two-three inning, keeping the Alleghany lead at 2-1.
The bottom of the sixth began with a Noah Jessup single. Jessup took second on a bad pickoff throw to the first baseman and reached third on a wild pitch. Tucker Swails brought the Cougar faithful and his teammates to their feet with a two-run home run over the left field fence, giving the Cougars the lead once again at 3-2.
Next up for the Cougars, Stuart Callahan walked, following a long at bat. Callahan reached second on a passed ball. The Cougars loaded the bases for Jaiden Wilson, who hit a grounder through the infield for an RBI single. Easton Harris hit a liner that dropped just under the outstretched glove of the Alleghany right fielder, bringing in three more runs and increasing the lead to 7-2 with no outs.
Following a Gavin Fain walk, a Noah Jessup single scored Harris. Tucker Swails collected his fourth RBI of the inning on a liner down the left field line, bringing in Fain and Jessup. Swails would later score on a wild pitch for the Cougars tenth run of the inning to take an 11-2 lead into the 7th.
Stuart Callahan pitched a perfect seventh inning, striking out two and securing the victory for Patrick County.
On the night, Tucker Swails pitched six innings, giving up two runs and striking out five, moving to 7-0 on the season. While not his best performance of the season, coach Tal Swails liked the way Tucker battled through for the win. “If you can’t have your best stuff and you can give us six innings like that and keep us in the ball game, this team’s going to find a way to win.”
Swails led the Cougars at the plate, going 3-4 with a homer and five RBIs. Noah Jessup had two hits and scored twice. Easton Harris chipped in three RBIs and Jaiden Wilson added one RBI.
Patrick County coach Tal Swails thought that winning a big game like this would help his team in the future. “They’re (Alleghany) a good baseball team. We need games like that. We need to be tested. We needed to be behind and find a way to win. You’ve got to get tested so that when you go into the playoffs, you’re ready. We needed that. It was big.”
