In a game full of offense, it was a plethora of errors that led to runs and ultimately the demise of the Red Devils as they lost to Daviess County 13-10 on Thursday.
The Panthers wasted no time jumping out to a lead, starting with an RBI single from junior Layton Huskisson. Sophomore Lake Wilson brought a run in on a groundout the following at-bat, while senior Owen Payne rounded out the inning with an RBI single to give Daviess County a 3-0 lead.
It seemed like Wilson was going to coast through the bottom of the second like he had the first, but a quick two-out rally changed things. A single and an error led to an RBI single for freshman Brady Benjamin, which was followed by an RBI single from freshman Will Rickard to cut it to 3-2 going into the third.
Some daring baseball led to another run for the Red Devils in the bottom of the third, as a suicide squeeze by junior Connor Hallmark knotted things up at 3-3.
The Panthers didn’t take long to respond though, as Huskisson earned his second RBI single of the day in the top of the fourth to make it 4-3. Wilson followed and helped himself by making it 5-3 with a sac fly.
Owensboro wasn’t backing down though, opening up the bottom of the fourth with a leadoff triple from senior Kindrick Williams. A few batters later after a walk led to a two-run double from Elijah Hampton that knotted things up at 5-5.
After another two-out walk the runs kept coming, as freshman Blake Kimbrell sliced a two-run double to left as well to make it a 7-5 game going into the fifth.
But it just seemed like each team had the perfect answer, as Daviess County came roaring back with two errors in the inning and a bunt single put runners on the corners with no outs. This led to an RBI single to left by junior Jackson Loucks to make it 7-6.
“That was a great bunt by Cameron Lewis and I think that just picked everybody up,” said Daviess County Head Coach Austin Clay. “You could just feel the energy come back in here.”
Sophomore Kaleb Ashley then took over for senior Jacob Mitchell, getting two straight outs. But just when it seemed like Owensboro would escape the inning with the lead, senior Brock Brubaker banged one off the wall in left and gave themselves an 8-7 lead with a two-run double.
After two straight walks more misfortune found the Red Devils, as freshman Trevor DeLacey misread the fly ball in right field and the bases cleared to give Daviess County an 11-7 lead going into the bottom of the fifth. Following a scoreless sixth, the Panthers added two more runs in the top of the seventh to go up 13-7.
And despite Daviess County having all momentum in the game, Owensboro made one last stand. Williams and DeLacey doubled back-to-back to start the bottom of the seventh inning, cutting it to 13-8. After a strikeout to start Loucks out in relief, the walks and hit by pitches kept coming.
Loucks plated two runs himself, hitting a batter and walking one to leave the bases loaded and one out up 13-10. But Loucks was able to come in clutch, forcing a 4-6-3 double play to secure the 13-10 win.
While Loucks didn’t have the strongest of outings in his one inning of relief, Clay was proud to see him step up and continue to grow and come up big on the mound this season.
“He wasn’t happy with the way he pitched obviously, but being able to bear down and get those outs there when it mattered at the end was big,” Clay said. “He’s matured a lot this year and you can see that in situations like this.”
Offensively the Panthers had a number of players chip in with Wilson leading the charge with three RBIs. Brubaker, Huskisson and Payne followed with two each, while senior Mason Boswell had one.
Daviess County never gave the Red Devils pitching staff a break, constantly finding ways to put the ball in play and make them earn every out.
“One thing we always tell them is one pitch at a time,” Clay said. “Don’t try and do too much. When we’ve gotten in trouble I think is when we’ve got guys trying to hit five-run home runs with nobody on base… Don’t try to do too much and good things will happen for us offensively.”
And this offensive approach paid off, as Owensboro had a barrage of errors on the day that led to nine of the 13 runs for the Panthers being unearned. This is something Owensboro Head Coach Jacob Fiorella said they have to rectify in the future.
“Our pitchers did a pretty good job,” Fiorella said. “They only gave up four earned runs. The defense has to play behind them if you’re going to win a district game, a competitive game. You can’t make five errors and expect to win.”
Despite the defensive struggles, Fiorella was thrilled with his team’s play at the plate. Kimbrell led the way with three RBIs, Elijah Hampton followed with two and freshman Cayden Ray, DeLacey, Rickard and Hallmark all chipped in one each.
“Our offense is getting better,” Fiorella said. “They’re right where we want them. Just gotta cash in and make two-out plays on defense and pitchers have to keep guys off base from walks. We only walked four guys but all of them scored.”
While the end result may not be what Owensboro had in mind, they are walking out the game with their heads held high because they battled to the very end.
“I’m really proud of our guys for not folding up,” Fiorella said. “We could’ve just said ‘hey we’re down 11-7, we’re just going to set up shop and end it early,’ and they didn’t man. They kept fighting. Which is good. That’s what we’re trying to get them to do.”
The Red Devils fall to 8-11 overall and 0-4 record in district play as they will look to bounce back in a Saturday doubleheader at the South Warren Lumberjack Classic.
Daviess County improves to 15-6 overall, while owning an 3-1 record in district play going into another 9th District matchup with Apollo at 7 p.m. on Friday.
