Tigers win thriller over Huntington

The McClain varsity baseball team picked up a hard-earned and well-played victory over a very good Huntington team Thursday night but had to hang on at the end, winning 5-4.

“Anytime you’re playing a team that Jack Carroll coaches, you’re competing against a well-disciplined team, and that was no exception tonight against this Huntington team,” said McClain head coach Kenny Branscom.

It was a pitcher’s battle over the first four innings between McClain starter Cohen Six and the Huntsmen’s freshman hurler Landon Lowery.  Huntington pushed across a run in the top of the first and looked like they would add more, but Six was able to strand the bases loaded, due mainly to a great two-out diving catch in right field by Owen Sykes.

“Our defense played really well tonight,” Branscom said. “They were sacrificing their bodies and working hard. This team can do great things, they just need to take that extra step, and defensively tonight they did that.”

The score remained 1-0 Huntington until the bottom of the fourth inning when McClain tied the game after Six worked a leadoff walk and came around to score on an RBI sacrifice fly by Vangundy.

The Tigers put their best offensive inning of the night together in the bottom half of the sixth when they scored three runs on five hits. Owen Sykes led off with a solid double to right and scored on an RBI single by Vangundy, who later scored after an infield run-scoring bunt single from Eli Douglas.

Then senior Seth Weller lined a single to centerfield, scoring Douglas, who had stolen second base and McClain’s lead grew to 5-1. It would have been probably an even bigger scoring inning if not-for-the fact that two McClain baserunners were picked off in rundowns leading off the bases.

“I thought we took a step backwards today a couple of times running the bases. That took us out of a potential even bigger offensive inning,” Branscom said.

Those three big insurance runs by the Tigers proved to be huge, and the difference in the game, when Huntington rallied in the top of the seventh, scoring three runs and having the tying run at third with just one out.

This is when the McClain coaching staff opted to lift starter Six, who seemed to struggle with his control after pitching so masterfully-for-six innings, and bring in the freshman Vangundy to try to preserve the victory. He too struggled with his control facing his first two batters, but found his groove and struck out the final batter, leaving the tying run at third.

“Cohen (Six) did a good job-for-us on the mound today,” Branscom said. “He struggled some getting ahead of the batters early but seemed to figure it out as the game went on.

“Then Benny Vangundy, who’s only a freshman came in and finished it up-for-us, doing another great job in relief. Benny is Benny, he goes out there and really competes when he’s pitching. He struggled there with his first couple of batters and gave me a few more gray hairs and a mini-stroke, but other than that he got the job done, and we came out on top and that’s all that matters.

“Offensively, I thought we hit the ball hard and are getting better but our defense really carried us tonight,” Branscom continued. “KP (Kaden Penwell) made some spectacular plays in the field, and that’s what we expect from him every game.”

Batting leaders for McClain: Penwell 1-for-4, double, run; Weller 1-for-4, RBI; Potts 1-for-2, RBI; Six 1-for-2; Sykes 1-for-2, run; Vangundy 2-for-3, RBI, run; Douglas 1-for-2, run.

Pitching: Six-6 innings, 6 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts; Vangundy-1 inning, 1 run, 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 strikeout.

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