Lyon County fell victim to the quintessential trap game Thursday, seeing their 11-game winning streak snapped in an 11-8 loss to Crittenden County.
The Lyons open play in the All-A Classic State Tournament Saturday morning and was needing to preserve their pitching for a possible two-day trip to Owensboro. However, the game with Crittenden was a district contest and one Lyon couldn’t overlook.
In the end, an eight-run fifth inning and 13 singles by the Rockets were enough to snap the Lyon County winning streak.
Lyon County jumped ahead 5-0 after two innings but missed several chances to break the game open early. The Lyons loaded the bases in the first inning but scored just once when Jake Kleuppel was hit by a pitch with two outs.
They loaded the bases again in the second inning when no outs. Gabe Board ripped a double to score two runs. Travis Yancy scored a run on a groundout, and Brody Williams singled home a run with one out.
The teams exchanged runs in the third inning. Crittenden scored a run on a sacrifice fly by Maddox Carlson. In the bottom of the third, Christian O’Daniel singled and came around to score on a Gunnar Bingham groundout for a 6-1 Lyon lead.
Lyon again loaded the bases in the fourth inning. Nick Whalin plated a run on a sacrifice fly, but the Lyons saw two outs occur while running the bases to end the threat.
The wheels fell of the wagon for Lyon County in the fifth inning. Crittenden County sent 12 batters to plate – seven got singles, and two reached on errors to grab a 9-7 lead.
Two more Lyon errors in the sixth inning along with two hits added two more runs to the Crittenden lead.
Aidan Rush drew a bases loaded walk in the sixth inning to bring the Lyons to within 11-8, but the threat ended there. The two ugly stats that stand out for the Lyons were the nine runners left on base and 11 unearned runs in the contest.
Board had two hits and two RBIs for Lyon County, while Jackson Shoulders, Brody Williams, and Christian O’Daniel each had two hits.
Trace Adams and Payton Riley each had three hits and three RBIs for the Rockets, who have now won two straight district games after losing 11 consecutive regular season district contests. Ben Evans added three hits and two RBIs.
Crittenden County (9-7) has now won three straight games and improved to 2-3 in district play. After upsetting the No. 1 seed in the district tournament as a No. 4 seed the past three years, the Rockets have a shot at the No. 2 seed if they win out and get some help. Trigg County is also 2-3 in the district. Livingston Central is 1-2.
Lyon County (15-6) drops to 4-1 in district play and still has the inside track for the No. 1 seed in the district tournament. The Lyons will play Campbellsville (20-5) Saturday morning at nine in the first round of the All-A Classic State Tournament in Owensboro.
