MACKS CREEK - Macks Creek picked up its third win of the season with a 12-1 victory over the Stover Bulldogs on Tuesday night in five innings.
Stover's Gage Fischer was hit by the third pitch of the game from Macks Creek starter Colton Walter. He stole second and moved to third on a passed ball. Following back-to-back strike outs Hunter Wolfe walked and stole second. Walter retired the next hitter looking for out number three.
The Pirates plated two runs in the bottom of the inning. Cole Register walked with one out and came around from first to score on Hunter Lane's RBI-double to the right-center field gap. He would advance to third on the throw home. A balk call would help to bring him in and Macks Creek had a 2-0. A third run would score in the second. Oscar Cortez singled ahead of a Tanner Smith fly ball to left that was misplayed. Following a double-steal, Cortez would score on an errant pick off throw to third.
The Bulldogs would put runners at second and third in the top of the third but Macks Creek would escape the jam. In the bottom of the inning four more runs would score for the Pirates. Hunter Lane was intentionally walked with one out. He would move to third on Trever Smith's single to center and come around to score on Colton Walter's single to left. Smith would move to third on that play. A single off the bat of Oscar Cortez moved Trever across the plate and Wlater to third. Cortez would steal second before Colton scored on a wild pitch. Tanner Smith then laced an RBI-double to right to plate Oscar and push the Macks Creek advantage to 7-0.
Stover scored their lone tally in the fourth. Jason Winters walked, moved to second on a wild pitch, and would eventually come around to score when Raden Layne's ball to short was misplayed. Adam Corpening would reach on a fielder's choice and Gage Fischer would be hit-by-a-pitch for the third time to load the bases and chase Pirates starter Walter. Hunter Lane entered in relief and struck out the hitter to end the threat.
Macks Creek plated five more runs in the bottom of the fourth to create the final margin. Cole Register singled with one out and moved to second on Hunter Lane's single to left. A strike out of Trever Smith would draw a throw to first, allowing both Register and Lane to advance before Colton Walter singled to center to plate both runners. He would steal second and third before crossing the plate on Oscar Cortez's ground ball to short that was misplayed. Cortez would steal second before being replaced by Tyrone Rios. Rios would advance to third on a wild pitch and Tanner Smith would walk. Both runners moved up a base on a balk, with Tyrone scoring, before Carsen Strutz singled down the left field line to plate Tanner. Stover would go 1-2-3 in the top of the fifth to end the game by the run rule.
"We've played some good baseball to start the season," commented Coach Jason Trusty, "Colton came out and did a good job of throwing the ball in the strike zone in his first start of the Spring as well."
Colton Walter picked up his first career Varsity win in his first career start. The Junior right-hander worked the first three-and-two-thirds innings to collect the win. He struck out 10, walked three, hit three, and was touched for one unearned run. Hunter Lane worked and inning-and-a-third and struck out all four batters he faced.
Gage Fischer started and took the loss for Stover. He was touched for 11 runs, eight earned, on nine hits while striking out nine and walking two in four-and-two-thirds innings. Raden Layne relieved and worked one-third of an inning, allowing one run on one hit while walking one.
Offensively Hunter Lane, Colton Walter, and Oscar Cortez each collected two hits to lead Macks Creek. Lane singled, doubled, scored three runs, had an RBI, and walked. Walter singled singled twice, scored twice, and had three RBI's. Cortez singled twice, scored twice, had an RBI, and reached on an error. Cole Register singled, scored two runs, and walked, Trever Smith singled and scored, Tanner Smith doubled, scored a run, had an RBI, walked, and reached on an error, and Carsen Strutz singled in a run. Tyrone Rios also crossed the plate once for the Pirates.
Stover was lead at the plate by Gage Fischer who was hit-by-a-pitch three times. Johnny Edgar walked, Jason Winters walked and scored, Raden Layne reached on an error and Adam Corpening reached base on a fielder's choice.
The Pirates move to 3-0 on the young season. They are back in action on at home on Thursday against Humansville and travel to Fair Play for back-to-back conference games. Both start at 5:00 p.m. and will be weather pending.
The Pirates JV fell 9-4 in the night cap to fall to 0-2.
Bobby Swann made his first career appearance on the mound and was tagged with the loss. He allowed nine runs, four earned, on one hit while striking out one and walking seven.
Swann also collected the only hit for the JV Pirates, an RBI-single. Tyrone Rios, had an RBI-hit-by-pitch while Keith Edelman and Zack Wallace each had RBI's on bases loaded walks. Wallace also scored a run and was hit-by-a-pitch. Hunter Harris was beaned and walked, Preston Borgmeyer walked, John Perez was hit-by-a-pitch and scored, Isaiah Schmidt walked twice and scored once, and Chris Willey was beaned and scored a run.
VARSITY BOX SCORE
1 2 3 4 5 R H E
STOVER 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 3
MC 2 1 4 5 x 12 10 2