On Tuesday night, the McCracken County Mustangs and St. Mary Vikings met for the final time in the regular season at Edward Jones Field. In five innings, the Mustangs defeated their district opponent with a 12-0 finish, guided by heavy offense, collecting 14 hits.
Senior Tyler Chapman received the nod and win for the Mustangs. The left-handed hurler worked four innings, surrendering two hits and four walks while striking out three of 17 batters.
“I thought the game [tonight] was great. I threw the best I have since my injury a few weeks ago,” Chapman said. “[St. Mary] got a few hits here and there over the infield, which were just good pieces of hitting. I was locating my slider and getting outs, that’s all that mattered.”
Scout Moffatt, Kendrick Dunning, and Weston Miller powered the Mustang offense. Moffatt went 2-for-3 with a triple, two RBI, and two runs. Dunning went 2-for-2 with one RBI. Miller went 2-for-3 with a triple, two RBI, and two runs. Caleb Ehling, Miller Green, Eli James, Jude Farley, Trace Cressler, Andrew Farmer, Caden Kern, and Joshua Penrod collected hits for the Mustangs.
Offensively for the Vikings, Landon Durbin, Jackson Willett, and Luke Sims collected St. Mary’s three hits.
McCracken County jumped on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first with one out. Green singled to left field, allowing Ehling to move into scoring position. On the throw from left field, Green advanced to second base. Green and Ehling scored on an RBI triple by James to give the Mustangs a 2-0 lead. The next batter, Dunning, singled, collecting the RBI as James scored.
“Being able to come and in and get the job done in a district game is really all you can ask for,” James said. “From a player standpoint, it is easy to get in the box and relax when you know the guy behind you has your back and can also get the job done. Also with the pitching staff that we have there is a lot of pressure withdrawn from the game because they go out there and do their thing.”
St. Mary had base runners in the top of the second inning, as Willett led off with a single to right field, giving the Vikings two hits in the contest early. Jake Haas drew a six-pitch walk before Farley picked Willett’s courtesy runner, Nolan Howard, off at second base. The second out came as Julian Myers sacrificed to third base, moving Jake Haas to second and into scoring position. However, Will Norris grounded out to end the Viking threat.
Miller led off the bottom of the second inning with a single to center field. Despite pickoff attempts, Miller advanced to second base on a bunt by Caden Kern. The first out in the inning came with Ehling’s fielder’s choice, advancing Miller to third. During the next batter, Moffatt’s at-bat, Miller stole home to make it 4-0. Two pitches later, Moffatt singled to center field, scoring Ehling.
”It was a great win for the team, chipping away at district play,” Miller said. “Pitching was dominant, like we’ve seen all year. Getting some of our injured guys back into the swing of things and look to get the bats hot as we head into the postseason.”
The score moved to 6-0 as Green knocked a sacrifice fly to center field, allowing Moffatt to touch home plate safely. James drew a four-pitch walk before Dunning singled on a ground ball in the infield as Brett Haas tossed it to third base to get the third out of the inning and escape further damage from the offense.
”For the past couple of weeks we were getting wins because o f the caliber of a team we are, but they were not McCracken county wins,” James said. “Our bats haven’t been where they need to be but through work and figuring out, I think we are back to where we need to be to make the postseason run we want to this year and I think this game showed that.”
In the bottom of the third inning, McCracken County plated five runs, with Farley leading off with a single to left field. Farley’s courtesy runner, Braden Casebier, stole second before Casey Hawes drew a five-pitch walk. The next batter, Miller, ripped a triple to left field, where St. Mary’s Myers collided with the wall but remained in the game for the Vikings. On the RBI triple by Miller, Casebier and Hawes’ courtesy runner Andrew Farmer scored to make it 8-0.
With one out, Ehling doubled to left field, scoring Miller. McCracken County’s offensive continued to dominate as Moffatt knocked a triple to right field, landing near the fence. On Moffatt’s triple, Ehling scored to give the Mustangs a 10-0 lead. One more run came in the inning as Green grounded out, scoring Moffatt.
St. Mary had two base runners in the top of the fourth inning as Willett and Myers drew walks against Chapman on the mound. However, the Vikings could not move the runners before the half-inning concluded.
Griffin Cantrell led off the bottom of the fourth, being hit by a pitch on a 3-1 count. Cressler singled, allowing Cantrell to move into scoring position. Farmer knocked a single to right field, but was out, advancing to second base for the first out of the inning. With two outs, Penrod singled with a line drive shot to left field, scoring Cantrell to give McCracken County a 12-0 lead.
With two outs in the top of the fifth inning, Durbin ripped a double to the right field fence but was left stranded. The contest ended with Sims popping out in foul territory, allowing Cressler to snag it.
Jake Haas took the loss for St. Mary. The Viking hurler worked three innings on the mound, surrendering 11 hits, 11 runs (earned), and four walks. Copelan Cobb appeared in relief for St. Mary, working an inning and allowing three hits and one earned run. Cobb struck out one.
Noah Godwin appeared in relief of Chapman for McCracken County. The junior worked an inning, allowing one hit while facing four batters.
UP NEXT: The McCracken County Mustangs will travel to Henderson County (10-20) on Friday night before returning to Edward Jones Field on Monday for senior night. The St. Mary Vikings will travel to Community Christian Academy on Thursday night and finish the regular season next week at Mayfield and the final home game at Haas Field against Livingston Central.
MCCRACKEN COUNTY 12, ST. MARY 0
STMS 0 0 0 0 0 X X — 0-3-2
MCHS 3 3 5 1 X X X — 12-14-0
WP: T. Chapman; LP: J. Haas
2B: STMS — L. Durbin; MCHS — C. Ehling
3B: MCHS — E. James, S. Moffatt, W. Miller
TB: STMS — L. Durbin 2, J. Willett 1, L. Sims 1; MCHS — S. Moffatt 4, W. Miller 4, E. James 3, C. Ehling 2, K. Dunning 2, A. Farmer 1, C. Kern 1, J. Farley 1, J. Penrod 1, M. Green 1, T. Cressler 1
HBP: MCHS — G. Cantrell
SF: MCHS — M. Green
SB: MCHS — B. Casebier, C. Ehling, W. Miller
E: STMS — J. Willett, L. Durbin
RECORDS: McCracken County (22-8); St. Mary (13-7)