The McClain Tigers hosted the New Lexington Panthers on Monday in a boys baseball district tournament game. The Tigers lost by a final score of 5-1 in seven innings of play. The Tigers’ also recognized their seniors prior to the first pitch.
The Tigers were pumped up for the game, as evidenced by the chatter on the field and in the home team’s dugout. The Tigers’ defense, led by senior starting pitcher Jacob Easter, was stellar through five innings of play allowing only three base-runners.
However, in the top of the sixth inning the bats came alive for the Panthers as four of the first five batters in the inning scored a run and seven players reached base. The Tigers went on to give up another run in the top of the seventh inning providing their adversary with all the runs they would need for the 5-1 final score.
At the plate the Tigers had a quiet first inning before showing promise in the second. Junior Kyle Wyatt reached base on an error and sophomore Austin Booth knocked an RBI triple to score Wyatt from second base.
The next best opportunity for the Tigers to make a game of it came in the bottom of the sixth inning when senior Jay Beatty doubled and stole third base. Junior Dakotah Pollock followed up with a single to put runners on first and third with two outs. Alas it was not to be as Wyatt would strike out to end the inning.
The seventh inning saw Booth reach second base, however, as was the case in this game and the trend for the Tigers’ season, they were unable to get the clutch hit they needed to extend the game.
McClain head coach Rich Bunner said, “Kind of been the way it has been all year, we shut them down for four or five innings and then we have that one bad inning, and it starts. That’s just the way it has been all year.” He added, “This year was a big improvement from last year, and it was not a bad season overall.”
Regarding the three seniors on the team Bunner said, “They are good kids, they have a great future to look forward to.”
Reach Ryan Applegate at 937-402-2572, or Twitter @RCApplegate89.
