BY BRITTNI MCCOY
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

Martin County Cardinals opened the baseball season in commanding fashion with a 19-3 rout of the Phelps Hornets on March 18 before falling in a hard-fought 7-6 loss to the Belfry Pirates the following night.

Below is a recap of Week 1.

Cards 19, Phelps 3

At Phelps, Dylan Hale led the charge for the Cards going 3-for-4 with three runs scored and four RBIs. He also stole a base.

Crayson Lafferty, coming off an injury, delivered a strong performance hitting 2-3 with two runs and three RBIs. 

Alice Lloyd signee Damian Cheek hit 2-3 with four RBIs. 

Blake Lemaster went 2-3 with one RBI and two runs scored.

Hard hitter Hunter Moore went 1 for 2 at the plate knocking in a run and crossing home plate once.

Cardinal Ryan Stephens also added three RBIs and one run scored, batting at .500. 

The team posted a collective batting average of .458.

Knox Maynard earned the win on the mound for the Cards. He struck out two and gave up zero earned runs.

Hale tossed the closing inning at relief striking out three.

Belfry 7, Cards 6

In the loss at Belfry, Aiden Horn racked up two hits and drove in three.

Hale stayed on fire and drove in two runs for Martin County with a hit. He crossed home plate twice.

Chase Stacy, Aidan Mann, and Blake Lemaster each scored a run for the Cardinals.

Cheek reeled off two hits. 

The Cardinals schedule for Week 2 includes games at Pike Central on March 24 and Jenkins at home March 25. Details were not available at press time. On Thursday, Martin County goes on the road to East Ridge. They will host Tug Valley on Saturday.

Week 3 will start with a home game against Pikeville at 6 p.m.