BY BRITTNI MCCOY
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
Martin County bested Tolsia 16-6 Thursday at Cardinal Park. The high-scoring affair served as “Senior Night” for Colin Horn and Chase Moore, who combined for four hits, four runs scored and two RBIs.
The first inning was a shutout with Tolsia’s at-bat ending with a rundown. Catcher Damien Cheek and third baseman Chase Preece caught a Tolsia player in a pickle trying to steal home. Cheek made the tag to bring the Cards out to bat.
With the bases loaded, Moore sailed a floater to center field to bring in the first score of the game. Outfielder Chase Stacy hit a single and Cheek brought in two with a double on error to give the Cards the lead 4-0 to end the first.
Both teams scored three in the second, and Martin County got the only home run in the game. With two runners on, Preece blasted a bomb over the left-field fence to extend the lead to 7-3. Moore notched a triple after his grounder to third resulted in an error when the ball flew by the first baseman. He turned on the jets and slid into third to beat the throw.
Evan Crum took the mound to begin the third and only allowed one run.
Coach Wesley Hager’s Cards started to heat up in the bottom of the inning. Cheek punched one to the outfield to land a triple. He wasn’t on base for long as Horn ripped the ball between first and second. Crum tripled and made it home after a wild pitch. Junior Dawson Mills stole two bases and Greyden Proctor’s single scored two runs to bring the score to 13-4.
Tolsia managed one run in the fourth. Crum struck out two and Preece made a leaping catch for a heater down the line. Horn scored the lone run to make it 14-6. The fifth inning would see two more runs to end the game with the win for the Cards 16-6.
The box score was loaded with seniors Horn and Moore leading the way with their two hits, two runs and one RBI each. Preece, Crum and Mills each scored three runs, with Preece hitting a homerun. Proctor and Stacy each brought in two runners and scored one. Cheek recorded a hit and Ryan Stephens had one run. Grant Alley produced two strikeouts on the mound.
Coach Hager was pleased with the team’s performance overall.
“We pitched some guys that really haven’t gotten a lot of Varsity time, and they threw decent for us,” Hager said. “Still too many walks but that’s just stuff we can clean up. We hit the ball well, they hit the ball well, but I think we just had the better at-bats today.”
On losing Horn and Moore, Hager said, “These guys are awesome. This is my first group. We got a little bit of a late start, but these guys have stepped up tremendously. Great group, and I’m going to miss my seniors next year.”
The Cardinals were scheduled to play Friday and Saturday, but both games were canceled due to rain.
Martin County is slated to play Paintsville for the start of the 57th District Tournament May 16.
