The old saying goes, “close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.” The Patriot baseball team at Allen County-Scottsville came close to a pair of wins this week yet could not pull out the victories. AC-S dropped back-to-back 2-1 games last week to Glasgow and Franklin-Simpson.
Thursday, AC-S led most of the way before losing after Franklin-Simpson pushed across runs in the home half of the sixth and seventh inning to record the come-from-behind win. The late-inning loss followed a Wednesday game in which the Patriots lost a 2-1 District 15 game against the rare hit-by-pitch walk-off.
The Franklin-Simpson game opened positively for the Patriots. After a hour rain delay, AC-S lead-off batter Triston Brooks reached first base after a dropped third strike. Brooks would quickly move to second on a steal and to third base on a sacrifice bunt off the bat of Warren Bray. Sheldon Peay’s sacrifice fly scored Brooks and staked the Patriots to a 1-0 lead.
Freshman Owen Stamper followed with five strong innings of work on the mound. Stamper would hold the Wildcats to two hits in their first five innings at the plate. However, the Patriot offense would not be able to generate any offensive support. The only hits by the Patriots in the game would be a Marcus Carter single in the fourth and a Brett Rippy single in the fifth.
Franklin-Simpson would get to a tiring Stamper in the home-half of the sixth. Losing a measure of control, Stamper hit the first two Wildcat hitters in the inning--Jackson Caudill and Jacob Curtis. Caudill moved to third on a passed ball and scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Donavon Alderson.
Three Patriot strikeouts in the seventh set the stage for the Wildcats to win the game in their last at bat. Walks by Cade Harvey and Tyler Kummer were followed by a fly out and then a single by Caudill. With the bases loaded, Curtis grounded to Rippy at shortstop. Rippy was unable to field the ball cleanly for a potential throw to the plate---an error that allowed Harvey to score the winning run.
Stamper’s final numbers showed that the freshman faced 29 Wildcat batters. Of the 29, Stamper threw first-pitch strikes to 16. Overall, Stamper threw 101 pitches with 61 being strikes. Stamper struck out three batters and issued three walks in the loss to the Wildcats---a 15-3 team that currently leads the region in wins.
Thursday’s strong pitching by Stamper marked the second night in a row that the pitching was solid for the Patriots. Against Glasgow last Wednesday, Peay worked the complete game, holding the Scotties to five hits, striking out three, and walking four. Again, AC-S’s inability to generate runs proved costly. The Scotties’ Dalton Shoemate held the Patriots to three hits and recorded 11 strikeouts in earning the win for his team.
The Patriots broke a scoreless tie with a run in the top half of the fifth. Two walks off Scottie ace Daltom Shoemate, a Glasgow error and a passed ball lifted AC-S to a 1-0 lead.
Glasgow countered with a run to tie. A double off the bat of Ryan Jones would lead to him scoring on an AC-S to even the game 1-1—a game that remained tied until the Glasgow eighth.
Shoemake helped his own cause with a single to start the inning. Griffin Murphy followed with a bunt. Peay fielded the ball and attempted to force Shoemate at second. A high throw enabled Shoemate to slide in safe at second. After a Glasgow out, Shoemate and Murphy moved up a bag on a wild pitch. Ben Hughes was walked intentionally to load the bases. Peay’s control wavered at this point as the junior threw three balls to Lane Norris. His next pitch would strike Norris in the back, a play that forced the runners to move up a base and giving Glasgow (8-10) the district win as Shoemate jogged home from third.
“You have to be disappointed in how it turned out, but that was a great game to be a part of,” AC-S coach Scott Stamper told the Glasgow newspaper afterwards, “Two great pitchers battled, and you hate to see either one of them lose. Sheldon (Peay) has been our workhorse. That’s the kind of performance we expect out of him. He pounds the strike zone and pitches to contact. He just didn’t find the zone on that last batter, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”
AC-S (7-11) lost a scheduled home game Friday due to rain. The Patriots will be back in action Thursday afternoon as Warren East (14-5) comes to Patriot Field. Green County (4-7) is scheduled to be in town for a double-header Saturday starting at noon. The Patriots will face the Barren County Trojans (6-11) next Tuesday at home.