On Monday morning, the McCracken County Mustangs and Calloway County Lakers kicked off the 2024 First Region baseball tournament, squaring off in the opening game of the first round.
The Lakers entered Monday with the higher seed, following their two extra-inning wins in last week’s Fourth District tournament, whereas the Mustangs looked to rebound following a defeat to Paducah Tilghman in the Second District championship. In a back-and-forth contest, McCracken held off the Lakers to advance to the semifinal round, with a final score of 5-2.
“Our guys competed really hard today. Baseball’s a funny game, when it’s back-and-forth in the postseason, those seven innings can get tough, but we just stayed with it, the guys kept their heads down, kept plugging, and executed when they needed to execute,” McCracken County head coach Zach Hobbs said.
Taking the ball to start for the Mustangs was senior Ross Aldridge, who pitched 4.1 innings in a no-decision start. The Louisville signee allowed two earned runs on five hits, recording five strikeouts across the outing. Noah Godwin and Seth Harris split the remainder of the innings, with Godwin being awarded the win with his 0.2 innings of work.Senior Eli James drove in a pair of runs batting cleanup for the Mustangs, finishing his day at 2-for-4 with two doubles. Sophomore Caden Kern went 2-for-2 with an RBI out of the nine hole, while fellow sophomore Kendrick Dunning picked up an RBI triple as part of a 1-for-2 showing. Scout Moffatt (1-for-3) and Jude Farley (1-for-4) each recorded a hit, while Weston Miller (0-for-4) drove in the eventual winning run for the Mustangs.
Freshman arm Nick Cantrell got the start for the Lakers, following his performance in the prior week’s Fourth District tournament. In a losing effort, Cantrell tossed 5.2 innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits, striking out one. Cantrell contributed on either side of the ball for Calloway, going 3-for-3 on the game with three singles. Junior Cuyler McDaniel showed out for the Lakers, going 2-for-4 with an RBI while batting third in the lineup. Kameron Starks and Bryson Dennis recorded the only other hits for Calloway, each going 1-for-3 on the day, while Cole Lockhart tallied an RBI on a sacrifice fly.
Cantrell kept up his form from the district tournament across the early frames, holding the Mustangs off the scoreboard through three innings. However, Aldridge matched him well across each inning, keeping the Lakers offense quiet as the score held at 0-0 through three.
After a scoreless fourth inning, the Mustang offense got busy in the top of the fifth, with Farley being struck by a pitch to lead off the inning. After courtesy runner Braden Casebier swiped second base, the Mustangs broke the deadlock through an RBI single from Kern, taking a 1-0 lead with only one away. Moffatt reached with a two out single to put runners on the corners for McCracken, but McDaniel limited the damage by picking off Kern at third to end the top of the fifth, with the Mustangs now up by a run.
After allowing a leadoff single to Cantrell and walking Conner Lockhart with one away, Aldridge’s night came to an end in favor of Godwin. Working a seven pitch at-bat, Cole Lockhart put enough behind a deep fly ball to bring Cantrell home on a sacrifice, knotting the game at one run apiece with two outs still to work with. McDaniel kept things rolling for the Lakers, ripping a line-drive single back up the middle on a 1-0 count to bring the go-ahead run across, as Calloway now led 2-1 heading into the sixth inning.
The Mustangs answered the bell to open up the sixth, putting a runner in scoring position with one out through a double from James. On the very next pitch, Dunning ripped a line drive along the right field line, driving James home with an RBI triple to level things right back up at two runs apiece. The stalemate hardly lasted a moment, as Miller jumped on the first pitch he saw to put the Mustangs back on top, scoring Dunning with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-2.
Senior Eli James drove in a pair of runs batting cleanup for the Mustangs, finishing his day at 2-for-4 with two doubles. Sophomore Caden Kern went 2-for-2 with an RBI out of the nine hole, while fellow sophomore Kendrick Dunning picked up an RBI triple as part of a 1-for-2 showing. Scout Moffatt (1-for-3) and Jude Farley (1-for-4) each recorded a hit, while Weston Miller (0-for-4) drove in the eventual winning run for the Mustangs.
Freshman arm Nick Cantrell got the start for the Lakers, following his performance in the prior week’s Fourth District tournament. In a losing effort, Cantrell tossed 5.2 innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits, striking out one. Cantrell contributed on either side of the ball for Calloway, going 3-for-3 on the game with three singles. Junior Cuyler McDaniel showed out for the Lakers, going 2-for-4 with an RBI while batting third in the lineup. Kameron Starks and Bryson Dennis recorded the only other hits for Calloway, each going 1-for-3 on the day, while Cole Lockhart tallied an RBI on a sacrifice fly.
Cantrell kept up his form from the district tournament across the early frames, holding the Mustangs off the scoreboard through three innings. However, Aldridge matched him well across each inning, keeping the Lakers offense quiet as the score held at 0-0 through three.
After a scoreless fourth inning, the Mustang offense got busy in the top of the fifth, with Farley being struck by a pitch to lead off the inning. After courtesy runner Braden Casebier swiped second base, the Mustangs broke the deadlock through an RBI single from Kern, taking a 1-0 lead with only one away. Moffatt reached with a two out single to put runners on the corners for McCracken, but McDaniel limited the damage by picking off Kern at third to end the top of the fifth, with the Mustangs now up by a run.
After allowing a leadoff single to Cantrell and walking Conner Lockhart with one away, Aldridge’s night came to an end in favor of Godwin. Working a seven pitch at-bat, Cole Lockhart put enough behind a deep fly ball to bring Cantrell home on a sacrifice, knotting the game at one run apiece with two outs still to work with. McDaniel kept things rolling for the Lakers, ripping a line-drive single back up the middle on a 1-0 count to bring the go-ahead run across, as Calloway now led 2-1 heading into the sixth inning.
The Mustangs answered the bell to open up the sixth, putting a runner in scoring position with one out through a double from James. On the very next pitch, Dunning ripped a line drive along the right field line, driving James home with an RBI triple to level things right back up at two runs apiece. The stalemate hardly lasted a moment, as Miller jumped on the first pitch he saw to put the Mustangs back on top, scoring Dunning with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-2.
MCHS 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 — 5 7 1
CCHS 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 — 2 7 0
WP: N. Godwin; LP: N. Cantrell
2B: MCHS — E. James 2
3B: MCHS — K. Dunning
TB: CCHS — N. Cantrell 3, C. McDaniel 2, B. Dennis 1, K. Starks 1; MCHS — E. James 4, K. Dunning 3, C. Kern 2, J. Farley 1, S. Moffatt 1
HBP: CCHS — Con. Lockhart; MCHS — C. Kern, J. Farley, K. Dunning
SB: MCHS — J. Farley
CS: CCHS — K. Starks
SF: CCHS — Col. Lockhart
E: MCHS — S. Moffatt
RECORDS: Calloway County (13-20); McCracken County (29-9)