98th Article at the Independent

SECTION 3A BASEBALL: No. 1N MACCRAY edges No. 1S RTR 5-2 in 10 innings in Section 3A tournament

CHRIS DRUMMOND cdrummond@marshallindependent.com

MILROY — With a trip to the Section 3A championship game on the line, the No. 1S Russell-Tyler-Ruthton and No. 1N MACCRAY baseball teams knew things weren’t going to be easy in their semifinal matchup on Saturday. It was a back-and-forth, low-scoring affair that required extra innings to decide things, and when the dust settled, the Wolverines found themselves in the final game with a 5-2 victory in 10 innings.

For the first four innings, neither team was able to score, indicating that runs were going to be hard to come by. The Knights finally broke through with a line drive ripped into left-center field by starting pitcher Cody Wichmann, giving the Knights the early lead. It was a one-run lead for RTR in the top of the sixth when the Wolverines tied up the game on an error with two outs. In the bottom of the seventh, the Knights had the potential game-winning run on third base, but MACCRAY was able to throw out the runner at home on a fly ball by RTR outfielder Aiden Wichmann, extending the game into extras.

The very next inning, MACCRAY pitcher/catcher Dreyer Homan hit a home run to give the Wolverines their first lead of the game. The Knights responded in the bottom half of the frame with an RBI single blasted in the gap of left-center field by pitcher/second baseman Jackson Christianson, tying up the game at 2-2.

That would be the final run for the Knights, however, as the Wolverines would score three runs in the 10th and hold the Knights to advance to the Section 3A Championship game, winning 5-2. RTR head coach Josh Fredrickson assessed his team’s performance in the game.

“We want to be aggressive and we want to force the defense to make the plays,” Fredrickson said. “Credit to them for making the plays. We didn’t really get a lot of solid hits, but credit to their pitchers.”

Cody Wichmann went 7 2/3 innings on the mound, allowing two runs on four hits and struck out 12. Fredrickson added that his team is now in a tough position because of pitch counts and have to be more creative and take a more aggressive approach at the plate in the next game.

RTR outfielder Dylan Anderson led the Knights in hits with two.

RTR will face off against the Murray County Central Rebels on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Milroy to see who will face MACCRAY for the Section 3A Championship

MACCRAY 5, RTR 2

MACCRAY 000 001 010 3 – 5 7 4

RTR 000 100 010 0 – 2 7 2

Hitting: RTR (Anderson 2-4; Cody Wichmann 1-3, RBI; Aiden Wichmann 1-4; Jackson Christianson 1-4, RBI; Lamote 1-5; Blake Christianson 1-4).

Pitching (IP-R-ER-H-BB-SO): RTR (Cody Wichmann 7.2-2-1-4-1-12; Gravely 2-3-3-3-3-4; Jackson Christianson 0.1-0-0-0-0-1).