A heartbreaking loss for the Christian County Colonels Thursday afternoon in the USA Classic in Memphis. The McGavoc Raiders scored three runs in the bottom of the 7th inning to come from behind and take a 6-5 win.
The day started off promising for the Colonels, as they plated two runs in the bottom of the 2nd inning. After scoring an unearned run to take a 1-0 lead, Christian County’s Austin Fields connected for an RBI double to score Elijah Owens, and extend the Colonels lead to 2-0.
McGavock came back to tie the game in the bottom of the 3rd inning. The Raiders came up with four singles against Christian County starter Eric Silvy to even things up.
Christian County looked to seize control of the contest in the top of the 5th inning. Silvy began the inning with a bunt single. Wyatt Stevenson then ripped a double to center field to put runners on second and third with no outs. The Raiders walked Lane Duiguid to load the bases and set up the force play at the plate. After a force out at the plate, Jason Polley was hit by a pitch to drive in Stevenson and put the Colonels back in front at 3-2.
Keith Stallons reached base on an infield single to drive in Duiguid and make it a 4-2 game. Elijah Owens then hit a sac fly to center to score Crider and extend the lead to 5-2.
McGavock got one of the runs back in the bottom of the 5th on an RBI single to cut the Christian County lead to 5-3.
The score stayed that way until the bottom of the seventh inning. With Silvy still on the mound for the Colonels, the Raiders started off their final at bat with a ground out. They got a one out walk from Silvy to get a runner on base. The next batter doubled to center to put runners on second and third with one out.
The Colonels appeared to be moving towards the win, following a line out to 1st base for the second out of the inning. However, a single to left field scored two runs, and then following a stolen base, an infield single to short scored the winning run for McGavock.
Stevenson had a big day at the plate for Christian County, going 3-3. Polley was 2-2 with an RBI, while Owens was 0-3, but drove in two of the Christian County runs.
Sivly went 6 2/3 on the mound for the Colonels, giving up 5 runs on 8 hits and striking out 5. Polley was on the mound when the game ended, giving up one run on two hits.
The loss was the 3rd in a row for Christian County, dropping the Colonels record to 2-5 on the season.
