By DOUG EADS, CJ Correspondent
Somerset — Kent Mayfield and the Pulaski County Maroons were looking to get a runner on base.
Instead, they got a home run of the walk off variety to give them a thrilling, 3-2 victory.
For the Maroons, Friday night’s one-run victory over visiting Wayne County gave PC its third consecutive win of the week, as sophomore left fielder Jake Barrish ended the suspense by sending the Maroons home with the victory.
For Barrish it was sweet redemption, as the Maroons leadoff hitter came to the plate to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning suffering through an 0-3 night with three K’s.
However, he made up for that abysmal night at the plate big-time, taking an 0-2 pitch from Wayne County’s Tyler Dishman high over the left center field fence for a home run, giving PC a thrilling, come from behind 3-2 victory over the Cardinals.
Not a bad way to end a bad night at the plate, isn’t that right coach Mayfield?
“It speaks volumes for Jake and also for our team,” stated a very happy Mayfield, after watching his club edge closer to the .500 mark with the win.
“The pitcher they ran out their tonight (Roger Brumley) was nice, and we kept battling, kept battling, and kept battling,” continued the PC skipper. “Hey, a few years ago, and maybe even last year, we could have tanked it with our chins to our chest, and waited for the game to end and shook their hands and waited for the next day. Jake’s home run to end this one tonight is kind of a testimony to everyone’s attitude on our team this year. We never quit and we don’t give up.”
Runs were indeed at a premium in this one, as PC’s Steven Dowell and Wayne County’s Roger Brumley hooked up in a good ole’ good one.
Wayne County grabbed a 2-0 lead by scoring two runs in the top half of the third inning off of Dowell, but the PC pitcher was hardly to blame.
Leadoff hitter and shortstop Kyle Gehring hit a seemingly innocent fly ball to right field, but with about a 15 - 20 mile per hour wind swirling around all night long, the ball played havoc with PC right fielder Nathan Phipps.
In fact, Phipps made a great attempt on a diving catch when the ball seemed to die in the air, but it fell to the ground giving Gehring an RBI double, as Charlie Dishman came home after leading the frame off by getting beaned by Dowell.
Later in the inning, Chris Swift hit a routine ground ball to shortstop, but when the ball hit the dirt portion of the infield, it took a bad hop over Kent Jones head for a single, driving in the Cards other run.
Thanks to some luck — all of it bad — PC found itself in a 2-0 hole to Wayne County.
However, the Maroons were the beneficiary of a couple of breaks in the home half of the fourth, knotting this one up with a pair of runs without the benefit of a basehit.
Cain Troxell led off the frame with a walk from Brumley, and Mikey Shepherd, who was 2 for 3 at the plate with a single and a double, reached safely due to an error from second baseman Landon Hutchison.
After a Jake Bales sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third, two passed balls later in the frame by Wayne County catcher Charlie Dishman, allowed two runners to score, knotting this one up at 2-2 through four innings of play.
“We bunted the ball well tonight and moved guys over and we really put the pressure on them,” Mayfield remarked.
“A couple passed balls there in the fourth got us some runs, we played good defense, we pitched the ball well, and we were able to come away with a victory here at home,” Mayfield added.
Both teams threatened to score in the later innings, but could not push a would-be go-ahead run home.
In the top of the fifth, Wayne County’s Swift doubled with two out off of Dowell, and Travis Bell followed him with what appeared to be a double to the right center field gap.
However, Phipps made the play of the game for Pulaski County with a diving catch, keeping this one knotted up at 2-2.
In the home half of the sixth frame, Shepherd doubled with two out, but Brumley was able to strike out Jake Bales to get out of that jam.
For the contest, Brumley fanned 12 PC hitters and allowed just three hits, but he had to give way to Tyler Dishman after seven innings of outstanding pitching for the Cardinals.
Dowell meanwhile went 6 1/3 innings on the hill, and he gave way to freshman Kody Johnson, who came on in relief of the PC starter and picked up the first win of his varsity career.
Thanks to the home run by Barrish off of Tyler Dishman in the home half of the eighth inning, PC ran its winning streak to three games since a spring break trip to Florida, with victories over district foes Casey County and Rockcastle County, as well as Wayne County.
“I don’t know if we’ve turned a corner just yet, but I do know we’re playing really well right now,” said Mayfield.
“In every game we win we’re going to take more and more confidence from it,” continued the Maroon head coach. “If we can get guys like Steven Dowell, Cain Troxell, Nick Vaught, and Nathan Phipps to come out each day on the mound and give our club quality starts, we’re going to be OK.”
Pulaski County attempted to run its winning steak to four games yesterday afternoon, by taking on the Panthers of Cumberland County at Southwestern.
Look for details of that game in Tuesday’s edition.
WC 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 — 2 6 1
PC 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 — 3 4 0
DOUBLES—(WC) Gehring, Swift. (PC) Shepherd.
HOMERUNS—(PC) Barrish.
RBI’S—(WC) Gehring, Swift. (PC) Barrish
WP—Johnson
LP—T. Dishman
