A whole lotta runs: Lincoln plates 25 runs; beats Garrard 25-13
Published 2:42 pm Thursday, May 4, 2017
Photo by Nancy Leedy GARRETT CLEM is swarmed by his Lincoln County teammates at home plate after his second-inning grand slam in the Bat Patriots’ 25-13 win at Garrard County Tuesday. There were five home runs in the game, with two for Lincoln. The last time Lincoln scored 25 runs in a game was, coincidentally, at Garrard in a 25-9 win on April 1, 2003.
LANCASTER — High school baseball is known to provide some ridiculous scores, even with run-rules in place, but it could be tough to top this one: 25-13. Yes, 25-13!
The Lincoln County Bat Patriots put the brakes on a seven-game skid in a big way by beating host Garrard County 25-13 in five innings Tuesday to complete their sweep of the Lions in 45th District play.
“That’s not a baseball score. That is a low-scoring football game. It was nice, though,” Lincoln coach Tee Ellis said. “We’ve been struggling hitting the ball and not scoring but one to two runs a game, so we’ve been working hitting pretty heavily in our practices and off days. And it paid off pretty well tonight.”
Lincoln, which had 26 hits off four pitchers, never trailed in the game, with starting pitcher Noah Horton helping himself out by tagging a two-run home run in the top of the first inning. The home run was the first of five in the game. The Bat Patriots (9-12, 2-3 district) would score in every inning with the first their lowest-scoring at-bat.
Garrett Clem, who scored on Horton’s homer, cranked out his own long ball in the second inning with a bases-clearing grand slam and the Bat Pats pushed six runners across in the fifth. But it was in the fourth that Lincoln distanced themselves from Garrard in a big way, exploding with a 10-run inning.
“Everything was working for us in that inning,” Ellis said. “We had good at-bats and a lot of focus in our bats. We were confident. You score a few runs early and you’re not pressing. You’re more relaxed and confident and you play better.”
Lincoln batted around in the fourth, with five batters making two trips to the plate. Horton led off the inning with a single, his first of two in the fourth. His speedup Brady Martin scored twice off the hits. Jared Long, who had a walk and a hit in his two at-bats, also scored twice. Josh Caudill had two hits and scored on the first, being driven in by Sawyer Carrier. Parker Monhollen, Hunter Jeffries, Clem, Luke Smith and Cooper Brown also had a hit apiece in the fourth. Carrier, Jeffries, Clem, Smith, Brown and Zack Hazlett, Monhollen’s speedup, each scored a run to make it 19-4, Lincoln.
Getting a commanding lead over Garrard came easy, but keeping the sizable lead did not.
Instead of getting out of the game in four innings, Lincoln had to go to five after the Lions cut into the Bat Pat lead in the bottom of the fourth. Tanner McGuffey and Anthony Justus both reached on a walk before Trevor Jones knocked out a three-run home run over the left field fence to get the deficit under 15 runs to take the game into the fifth.
A total of 12 runs were scored in the fifth inning as Lincoln battled to maintain control of the lead while Garrard tried to battle back, with each team getting six runs.
Jeffries, Clem, Smith, Martin (running for Horton), Long and Devin Lawhorn scored Lincoln’s runs in the top of the fifth.
Mason Delili connected for a two-run homer with one out in the fifth for Garrard to plate his brother, Drew Delili. McGuffey, Connor Isaacs, Collin Carver and Justus also scored for the Lions before Martin came on to get Isaac Lyons to line out and Drew Delili to fly out to end the game. Two base runners reached on errors.
Horton lasted four innings before he was replaced by Wyatt Hon in the fifth.He allowed seven runs off eight hits. Hon, who faced eight batters with six runs scored off three hits, was replaced by Martin after hitting his second batter. Martin gave up one hit.
While pleased with the district win, Ellis said he was relieved to just get back on the winning side of the scoreboard.
“Losing six,seven straight games takes a toll on you,” he said. “Players start pressing, coaches start pressing. What do I need to do? What can I change? You start questioning yourself, your strategy. But you just have to stay relaxed and stay with what you know. We finally broke out of that tonight.”
In Lincoln’s four-run second, Monhollen, Carrier and Jeffries all singled to set up Clem for his grand slam off Garrard starter Collin Carver.
Drew Delili got back two runs for Garrard in the bottom of the second when he tagged a two-run home run to plate Lyons. McGuffey added a third run after beating the throw to reach.
Horton, Long and Carrier scored a run apiece for Lincoln in the top of the third and Brandon Pingleton answered with a run for Garrard in the bottom.
Carver lasted two innings for Garrard (6-15, 0-5), allowing eight runs off eight hits. Drew Delili gave up four runs off four hits with three walks, including a bases-loaded walk to Smith in the third. Ethan Lamb came on for Delili in the third and 1-1/3 innings before he was replaced by Anthony Justus. Lamb alllowed 12 runs off 12 hits and Johnson gave up one run off two hits.
at Garrard Co.
Lincoln 2 4 3 10 6 – 25 12
Garrard 0 3 1 3 6 – 13 26
2B – LC, Jared Long, Bradley Henson
HR -Noah Horton (LC), Garrett Clem (LC), Drew Delili (GC), Trevor Jones (GC), Mason Delili (GC)
