Looking to put a winless spring break stretch behind them, the Hopkinsville Tigers rallied to take a late lead over visiting Calloway County on Monday before falling 9-7 in eight innings. The Tigers dropped their sixth straight to slip to 3-10 ahead of a visit from West Creek, TN,, on Tuesday.
After going down 1-0 in the top of the 2nd, Hopkinsville loaded the bases on singles by Gavin Powell, Chase Fort, and Andrew Mayes, but a double play ended the threat.
Trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the 6th, the Tigers finally broke through when Gavin Mitchell drew a bases-loaded walk. JJ Thompson followed with a two-run double, and 8th-grader Dylan Sweeney delivered a two-out single to push two runs across and give Hoptown its first lead of the game.
Hopkinsville almost had it nailed down with Calloway down to its last out in the 7th, but an error on a hard ground ball allowed the tying run to cross the plate.
The Lakers took advantage of their second chance with a four-run 8th, highlighted by an RBI single by Braden Pingel and a two-run double from Cadwell Turner.
Hopkinsville made things interesting with a two-out rally in the bottom of the frame. A run came in on an error on a single by Thompson, and Sweeney singled to put runners at the corners. Zach Moss singled to drive in Thompson, and stole second to put two runners in scoring position. However, Powell’s hard-hit line drive was right at Calloway’s Zachary Akin to end the game.
Lucas Kaetzel went seven innings on the mound for Hoptown, allowing five runs, two earned, on 12 hits with three strikeouts. Thomas Hallmark came on in relief and took the loss, giving up four runs, two earned, on three hits with a strikeout.
Thompson and Sweeney each had two hits and two RBI, and Powell and Fort both hit safely twice.
For the Lakers, Nick Cantrell worked four innings for the victory, surrendering seven earned runs on seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
Pingel and Cole Lockhart were both three for five at the plate, and Turner, Conner Lockhart, and Kameron Starks each finished with two hits.
Calloway County won for the fourth time in five outings to improve to 7-6.
