Caldwell County’s Ben Goodaker and Lyon County’s Eli Baker put on a pitching clinic on Monday. But Goodaker’s Tigers came up with just a couple more hits and defensive plays.
Goodaker fired a complete-game five-hitter and struck out nine as Caldwell defeated Lyon 3-1 in a 2nd Region All A Classic quarterfinal matchup in Eddyville.
Baker struck out 10 and allowed seven base hits in the setback.
With both teams expecting runs to be at a premium, Lyon (7-5) struck first in the bottom of the first inning.
Austin Spears opened the game with a single, then John Bingham doubled to right center.
Goodaker struck out the next two hitters, but then a wild pitch allowed Spears to come in from third to put Lyon up 1-0.
But the Lyons missed opportunities to add to their lead, stranding four baserunners in the first three innings and having another runner thrown out stealing.
Once Goodaker settled in, only one Lyon hitter reached base over the final four innings — and that was on a two-out error in the sixth.
But Caldwell (8-4) was also struggling to put people on base against Baker — until the fifth inning.
A leadoff walk by Luke Parker and a one-out single by Goodaker set the stage for the Tigers.
Carter Whittington singled into center to tie the game at 1-1.
A strikeout was the second out of the inning.
But Caldwell then caught a break when a ground ball by Cole Slone caught the lip of the infield and bounded away from Spears at shortstop. That plated another run to put the Tigers up 2-1.
A hit batter with one out in the top of the seventh helped Caldwell tack on an important insurance run. Newsom was hit by a pitch, stole second, then scored on a single to center by Brady Holeman to make it 3-1.
Caldwell’s defense was strong with stellar catches by Newsom on a foul ball near the Lyon dugout, Parker on a ball in foul territory near the fence in left field, and Jamus Carneyhan on a shallow fly ball down the right-field line.
Goodaker is now 5-0 this season. He allowed just the one earned run and walked just one.
Goodaker is 17-4 all-time and tied Trevor Green (17-10) for fourth place on Caldwell’s career pitching wins list.
Baker is 2-1 for Lyon. He walked two while allowing three earned runs.
Holeman was 2-for-4 at the plate for Caldwell with an RBI.
Bingham was 2-for-3 for Lyon.
Caldwell advances to face Livingston Central in Tuesday’s 5:30 p.m. semifinal contest in Smithland. The Cardinals advanced by beating Fort Campbell 8-2 on Monday.
