YSE File Photo
Despite a pair of home runs and scoring four runs in the final two innings, the Lyon County High School baseball team finally succumbed to Madisonville-North Hopkins on Thursday, falling 9-8 on the road and losing for just the second time in 15 games this season against 2nd Region competition.
The Lyons, who own the region’s top RPI at .639, watched the host Maroons strike for three runs in the first inning, four more in the fourth, and eventually stave off a late LCHS surge. Despite four errors, Madisonville out-hit Lyon County 12-10 and got a key RBI fielder’s choice from Jonathon Cain in the bottom of the fifth, which ultimately held up as the game-winning sequence.
Winners of their last 10 games against regional foes, the Lyons did manage to strike first Thursday, taking a 1-0 lead on Aidan Rush’s two-out RBI double. Madisonville, losers of their last five games, would counter, however, when a two-out, two-run single by Eric Farmer put the Maroons up 3-1 in the first.
After retiring the Lyons in order in the top half of the second, MNHHS (10-11) once again took advantage of a two-out RBI hit, as Cain drove in Landon Cline to have the visiting Lyon County squad facing a 4-1 deficit. That wouldn’t last for long, though, following a two-run single by Jackson Shoulders and a solo home run by Rush to square the game at 4-all in the third.
In the bottom of the fourth, Madisonville-North Hopkins surged ahead for good, as the Maroons strung together runs in four straight plate appearances, including Collin Crook’s RBI double, Cain’s RBI single, Farmer’s RBI groundout, and Ethan Taylor’s run-scoring single to put the Lyons back in a four-run hole at 8-4.
The Lyons attempted to rally once more in the sixth inning, when Brody Williams mashed a two-run homer to center field, cutting the Maroon lead to 9-8. With two more runners on, however, junior relief pitcher Luke Barton struck out a batter and got another to fly out to end the threat. He did the same in the seventh inning, to clinch the victory after Austin Long delivered a two-out single.
Farmer (1-2) gutted out his first win of the season on the mound after giving up seven hits, five runs (four earned) and two walks in five innings. He did manage three strikeouts and got sufficient run support to give the Maroons just their seventh win against a 2nd Region team in 12 games this year.
Rush (3-2) was saddled with the loss. He gave up seven hits, five runs and two walks in three innings of relief. He entered with the score tied 4-4. Beau Wilson threw the first three innings for the Lyons, allowing five hits, four runs, and three walks in three innings during just his second start of 2021.
Shoulders led the game offensively, finishing 4-for-4 with two runs. Rush racked up six total bases, including the HR and a double, going 2-for-4 with a run and two RBIs. Williams’ lone hit led to two of his three RBIs. Madisonville was led by Cain and Farmer, who each drove in three runs. Crook went 2-for-3 with a run and two RBIs.
Lyon County (20-6) hosts No. 3 McCracken County at noon on May 22 in a rematch of two of western Kentucky’s top teams. The Mustangs (23-5) defeated Lyon County 11-1 on May 8 during the Mustang Invitational.
