Seeking its first win against an in-state opponent since April 1, the Lyon County High School baseball team scored twice in the eighth inning and was the last squad standing in Thursday’s 9-7 slugfest at Murray. The Lyons were victorious in the true back-and-forth contest by out-hitting the Tigers 16-10.
There was plenty of offense in the 1st Region vs. 2nd Region tilt, as both teams nearly hit for the collective cycle. The Lyons were successful in the feat and had three players register three-hit games, including a huge night from John Bingham. The sophomore went 3-for-5 with two RBI, a double and his second home run of the season — a solo shot that put LCHS ahead 8-7 in extra innings.
In a game that featured seven lead changes and five ties, it was Murray that reached the board first on Lyon’s lone error of the contest in the bottom of the first. The visitors answered quickly, though, reclaiming a 2-1 advantage on Austin Spears’ sacrifice fly and going up 3-1 on Bingham’s RBI single in the second.
The host Tigers produced a pair of two-out runs in the third to reclaim a 4-3 lead, but Bingham struck again with a two-run double that put the Lyons up 5-4 in the top of the fourth. Aiden Waters made it 6-5 Lyon County with a two-out RBI single in the fifth and Eli Baker gave LCHS a 7-6 edge with an RBI single in the sixth, but both sides continued to fight back.
Murray High (5-8) tied it once more in the bottom of the sixth after Carson Tucker raced home to score before Cody Garner’s pop out to left turned into a double play, as the Lyons threw out Jack Elmore who was attempting to advance to second base on the tag up and sent the game to extras, tied 7-all.
Spears, who earned the pitching victory for Lyon County, stranded Tigers at first and second in the bottom of the seventh inning with his second strikeout in relief. Then, on the seventh pitch he saw, Bingham led off the eighth with the aforementioned solo shot. The Lyons then got a key insurance run when Baker tripled and Peyton Williams doubled in consecutive at-bats to make it 9-7.
Spears (1-1) ended the game with his third strikeout in four innings and earned his first win of the year. He allowed five hits and two walks. Bingham issued six walks, gave up five hits and allowed four earned runs in his four-inning start, but more than made up for it at the plate.
Bingham, Spears and Williams all had three hits each and combined to go 9-for-14. Baker, Waters and Drew Richie each contributed two hits in the onslaught. Murray was led by Tucker (2-for-4, three runs, home run, walk), Jack Elmore (3-for-3, run, walk) and Nick Bell (2-for-4, double, two RBI).
The Lyons (8-5) are back in action at 6 p.m. Friday at Henderson County. The Colonels (7-8) defeated Union County in back-to-back days Wednesday and Thursday to move back to one game under .500.
