By Ashlee Mullis
The Varsity Baseball team lost 0-10 to Tunstall on May 7. Kelon Penn got the start and took the loss on the mound. Bryson Fulcher worked two innings of relief.
Offensively, the Cougars picked up five hits, one each by Josh Cockram, Tanner Epperson, Bryson Fulcher, Landon Augustine, and Lincoln Rose. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t put anything together to ever get a rally going,” said head coach Tal Swails.
The Cougars fell at Bassett 8-9 in extra innings on May 8. Lane Taylor got the start on the mound and worked five strong innings, giving up two runs on four hits and walking three.
Offensively, the Cougars got on the board early, scoring two in the first on singles by McCray Sawyers, Fulcher, Augustine, and Lane Taylor.
Patrick County scored three in the second on a double in the gap by Cockram.
Penn knocked one out of the park to score three. In the fourth, Cockram and Augustine both scored, and the Cougars added one more in the fifth to take an 8-2 lead heading into the sixth inning. In the bottom of the sixth, things unraveled a bit for the Cougars.
After getting the first out of the inning, Bassett scored six runs on three walks, four hits, and an error to tie the game up going into the seventh. Neither team would score in the seventh. Bassett rallied in the eighth to score a run and win in a walk-off.
“It was a disappointing loss, one in which we really should have won the game. For five innings, the boys played as good a game as they have played and the score showed it. High school baseball is a seven-inning game, and if you let up at any time, you can get beat, and we did. It’s a humbling game,” Swails said.
The JV Baseball team lost a heartbreaker to Tunstall in a score of 13-16 in eight innings. Garrett Leftwich got the start on the mound, striking out two, walking three, and allowing 13 hits. Kase Leftwich and Gilbert Hubbard both came in to pitch in relief. Leftwich led the Cougars at the plate with three hits and one RBI. Nash Thompson, Camden Nowlin, and Carson Merriman had two hits and two RBIs each, and Grayson Howell had two hits and one RBI. Garrett Leftwich had one hit and one RBI. Ben Hylton added one hit for the Cougars.
Coach Donny Rakes described it as a “wild ballgame. We got down, then came back. I was proud of that,” he said. “We just couldn’t get the run across in the seventh that counted. Kase came in as relief and pitched really well. Down five in the seventh and tied it up and forced extra innings.”
