By CHARLIE HUST
After the starting the 2014 baseball season with 10 straight losses, the WCHS Trojans jumped into the ‘win’ column in a big way last Thursday, posting two victories.
Webster (2-11) travels to Dawson Springs on Thursday and then back on the road to Lyon County on Friday.
Webster County 8
Whitesville Trinity 3
Behind a strong pitching performance from Mickey Morse, the Trojans earned their first win of the season on Thursday in the first game of a three-team, round-robin at Trojan Field in Dixon.
The Trojans grabbed the momentum early in the game as Raiders hurler Seth Barnwell had trouble throwing strike while catcher Wes Logan was equally as inefficient trying to corral wild pitches. Barnwell walked seven Trojans in the first three innings and unleashed eight wild pitches. Webster scored three times on passed balls to take a 3-0 lead.
Ethan Clayton and Clayton Buchanan both had RBI-single in the fourth inning while Morse and Hunter Davis delivered run-scoring hits in the fifth, followed by a sacrifice fly from Devin Morris to give the Trojans a commanding 8-0 lead.
While Morse kept the Raider bats silent through five innings, Whitesville threatened to make a game of it in the top of the sixth, scoring three times. But WC’s junior right-hander escaped a bases-loaded jamb by inducing a weak grounder to third baseman Clayton for the third out.
Whitesville went on to defeat Hopkins Central 7-3 in its second game of the day.
Webster County
Hopkins Central
Topping off a very successful day, the Trojans rallied with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh to edge past the Storm.
Webster junior Brady Wright drew a lead-off walk in the bottom of the seventh, stole second and the sprinted to third on a passed. Central’s catcher tried to fire to third to catch the speedy Wright but his throw skipped past the Storm third baseman and Wright sprinted him for the game-winning run.
Webster County 4
Butler County 7
The Trojans watched several late-inning scoring opportunities slipped by and that proved to be costly Friday night at Trojan Field as the visiting Bears snapped WC’s two-game winning streak.
Webster left the bases loaded in both the fifth and six innings while trailing 5-2. A total of 10 Trojans were stranded on base.
Butler took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first but the Trojans answered with a single run in the bottom of the frame with an RBI-single from Hunter Davis, scoring Brady Wright.
The Bears scored single runs in each of the next three innings to grab a 4-1 lead after five inning.
A bases-loaded walk to pinch-runner Drake Villines in the bottom of the fifth allowed Webster to trim the lead to 4-2. But Bears’ hurler Eddie Phelps retired Ethan Clayton and Logan Erickson to thwart the uprising.
A throwing error led to Butler’s only run of the sixth, stretching the lead to 5-2.
Webster answered with two runs in its half of the frame sparked by back-to-back walks to Davis and Devin Morris. A sacrifice fly from Logan Edwards drove in Davis, followed by an RBI-single from Mickey Morse sending Morris home and trimming the lead to 5-4. But that would be as close as the Trojans could get. Morse led WCHS offensively with three hits.
Butler added a pair of insurance runs in its final at-bat for the 7-4 advantage.