In the penultimate game at Edward Jones Field, the McCracken County Mustangs hosted the visiting Ballard Memorial Bombers, the two program’s first meeting this season, with the final days of the regular season wrapping up at the end of the week. In five innings, the Mustangs defeated the Bombers with an 11-1 win, marking the program’s 25th win this season.
“We settled in a bit, and I thought we were aggressive in the first with [Caleb] Ehling, and I love it,” McCracken County head coach Zach Hobbs said. “But we have to make sure that we don’t stop right there, and that’s a great baseball play. I know he got out, but I love seeing that [aggressiveness], although it took us a bit out of the first inning.”
Tyler Chapman received the win for McCracken County. The senior lefty worked three innings on the mound, allowing one run (earned) on two hits while walking two and striking out three on 11.
Jacob Irvin took the loss for Ballard Memorial. Irvin tossed over two innings for the Bombers, surrendering six runs (earned) on five hits while walking two of 14.
“Noah [Godwin] looked great, and I wanted to keep running him out, but we also need to get Miller [Green] on the mound and get him back because he’s going to be a big part of our postseason,” Hobbs said. “Noah did a good job, and if we play tomorrow [weather permitting], he’ll get the start since he only threw a few pitches. Offensively, we got going and slowed it down. We stopped taking the fastball early in the count, and I thought we had put some good swings on the balls late.”
Godwin and Green appeared in relief of Chapman for McCracken County. Godwin worked an inning on 15 pitches, striking out two of three. Green finished the game for the Mustangs, walking one and striking out two of four batters faced.
Braxton Blankenship and Keaton Overstreet appeared in relief of Irvin. Blankenship threw over an inning, allowing three hits, three runs (earned), and one walk. Overstreet finished the game, allowing two runs and two walks while facing six batters.
Ballard Memorial struck first in the top of the first inning with Konnor Myatt singling, scoring Hunter Collins. Despite the RBI single, the Bombers could not capitalize as Myatt was caught stealing second base to end the threat.
As Hobbs mentioned, the first offensive inning for McCracken County started with a single by Ehling. However, momentum shifted as Ehling was out while pushing out an extra base. The following two Mustangs went down with a pop-out and a ground-out.
McCracken County tied it 1-1 in the bottom of the second inning with two outs as Eli James scored on a wild pitch. However, much like the first inning, the Mustangs were off to a slow start.
Things shifted, however, in the bottom of the third inning as Weston Miller drew a lead-off walk, advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt by Caden Kern. Ehling’s RBI single to left field allowed Miller to score and give McCracken County a 2-1 lead. With two outs, Green hit an inside-the-park home run on a line drive to center field, scoring himself and Ehling to take a 4-1 lead. The offensive onslaught continued as James singled and scored on an RBI triple by Kendrick Dunning.
Jude Farley doubled to right field, allowing Dunning to place McCracken County’s sixth run of the contest. One more run came as Casey Hawes singled to left, allowing courtesy runner Nolan Short to score.
McCracken County extended the lead in the bottom of the fourth as James singled to left field, scoring Kern and Ehling to make it 9-1. Two more runs came in the bottom of the fifth as Braden Casebier knocked in the winning run while reaching on an error, scoring Andrew Farmer and Weston Miller to end the contest with an 11-1 finish.
The Mustangs, weather permitting, will finish out the regular season at Edward Jones Field on Friday against Henderson County. The team will then prepare for the Second District postseason tournament. This will be the first season in recent years that the Mustangs will not have a first-round bye, with Community Christian Academy opting to play in the district tournament. The two will meet at Brooks Stadium with a late start Monday night contest. The two teams play after the conclusion between St. Mary and Paducah Tilghman—who will start their district game at 6:30 p.m.
“Hopefully, we can take care of business against CCA next week and meet the winner on Tuesday at Brooks Stadium. And then we’ll host the region hopefully on Memorial Day with all four games,” Hobbs said. “We’ve got some work to do here and it’s getting ready to be a fun time to be a part of our program.”
Ehling and James went 2-for-2 for McCracken County. Green (HR), Dunning, Farley, and Hawes collected hits in the win.
For Ballard Memorial, Myatt and Kyler Ballard each collected a hit.
MCCRACKEN COUNTY 11, BALLARD MEMORIAL 1
BMHS 1 0 0 0 0 X X — 1-2-1
MCHS 0 1 6 2 2 X X — 11-8-0
WP: T. Chapman; LP: J. Irvin
2B: MCHS — J. Farley
3B: MCHS — K. Dunning
HR: MCHS — M. Green
TB: BMHS — K. Ballard 1, K. Myatt 1; MCHS — M. Green 4, K. Dunning 3, C. Ehling 2, E. James 2, J. Farley 2, C. Hawes 1
HBP: MCHS — C. Kern
SB: BMHS — H. Collins; MCHS — E. James
CS: BMHS — K. Ballard, K. Myatt
E: BMHS — A. Puckett
RECORDS: McCracken County (25-8); Ballard Memorial (16-13)
MCCRACKEN COUNTY 11, COMMUNITY CHRISTIAN ACADEMY 0
The McCracken County Mustangs wrapped up regular-season district play against Community Christian Academy before next week’s postseason district tournament at Brooks Stadium. The Mustangs defeated the Warriors in five innings with an 11-0 finish.
Junior Braden Truitt earned the win for McCracken County. The lefty hurler worked two innings on the mound, allowing one hit while striking out six of seven batters. Freshmen Colin Poat and Gage Reeves appeared in relief of Truitt. Poat worked an inning, striking out all three batters faced. Reeves worked two innings, allowing a hit and striking out six of seven.
CCA’s Cooper Reed took the loss for the Warriors. The sophomore threw three innings on the bump, allowing five hits, five runs (two earned), and six strikeouts while facing 16. Daniel Walters and Triston Gallagher appeared in relief of Reed for CCA. Walters worked an inning, surrendering six runs (three earned) on three hits and one walk on 10 batters. Gallagher wrapped up the contest, tossing an inning and allowing one hit, one walk, and one strikeout while facing five batters.
McCracken County jumped on the scoreboard in the top of the first as Justin English ripped a one-out triple to center field, scoring on an RBI double by Hunter Rousseau. The next batter, Hunter Neely, singled to right, allowing Rousseau to make it 2-0. However, the Mustang threat ended as the next two batters went down with a line out and dropped third strike.
Walters led off the bottom of the first with a 0-2 single to left field but was left stranded as Truitt struck out the next three to end the inning.
The Mustangs added one run in the top of the second inning as Kannon Mahan tripled to left field, allowing Luke Whiteside to score and make it a 3-0 ballgame. Two more runs came in the top of the third as Brady Thompson singled to left field, scoring Reeves. Thompson later scored on a pickoff attempt that allowed him to go from first to home, making it 5-0.
The score moved out of CCA’s reach in the top of the fourth inning when the Mustangs extended their lead to 11-0. Jaxon Shackleford led off the inning with an HBP before scoring on a steal of home ahead of Weston Buckhalter, reaching on an error after hitting a ground ball in the infield. The next batter, Ayden Hunter, was hit by a pitch, and Owen Aldridge drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases. Nolan Goode’s sacrifice fly allowed Buckhalter to make it a 7-0 game.
The inning continued as Cooper Crice doubled to left field, scoring Hunter and Aldridge. On the play, Crice advanced to third base. Kole Robertson’s RBI single put McCracken County up by 10 runs, scoring Crice. One more run came courtesy of an RBI single by Blake Mills.
At the bottom of the fourth, Reed singled, but CCA could not move the runner as Reeves struck out the next two to conclude the half-inning.
Despite a walk by Hunter and a single by Goode, the top of the fifth inning was the lone inning without a single run by the team. The bottom of the fifth inning ended as Reeves struck out the side to end the game.
MCHS 2 1 2 6 0 X X — 11-9-0
CCA 0 0 0 0 0 X X — 0-2-5
WP: B. Truitt; LP: C. Reed
2B: MCHS — C. Crice, H. Rousseau
3B: MCHS — J. English, K. Mahan
TB: CCA — C. Reed 1, D. Walters 1; MCHS — J. English 3, K. Mahan 3, C. Crice 2, H. Rousseau 2, B. Mills 1, B. Thompson 1, H. Neely, K. Robertson 1, N. Goode 1
HBP: MCHS — A. Hunter, J. Shackleford
SF: MCHS — N. Goode
E: CCA — J. Rambo 2, C. Reed, D. Walters, J. Anderson
RECORDS: McCracken County (26-8); CCA (4-15)
SB: MCHS — G. Reeves 2, A. Hunter, J. Shackleford, K. Robertson, O. Aldridge, W. Buckhalter