YSE File Photo
Two weeks away from the postseason, as teams seek ways to light the fuse, the Hopkinsville High School baseball squad might have claimed the emotional come-from-behind win it needs as it heads down the stretch.
After trailing by four runs and being held scoreless after four innings, the Tigers roared back in a big way Tuesday to stun Madisonville-North Hopkins 9-8. Behind a three-run home run from JJ Thompson, Hoptown used an eight-run fifth inning to take control, then held off a Maroon comeback attempt in the seventh to take the road W.
Madisonville, which previously fell to Hopkinsville 5-2 in late March, was undoubtedly the aggressor Tuesday. The Maroons scored a trio of runs before they even recorded an out in the first inning. Evan Lear’s RBI double and run-scoring singles by Cadence Gibson and Ryder Sandridge played the biggest roles in digging Hoptown a 4-0 hole.
Soon after, it appeared it wasn’t in the cards for the Tigers, as the visitors stranded the bases loaded to end the top of the third and fourth innings. In the fifth, however, the momentum swung in a significant way. Gavin Mitchell’s RBI single got HHS on the board, Thomas Hallmark pulled Hopkinsville within 4-3 with a two-run double, and Chase Fort’s sacrifice bunt brought home Mitchell to abruptly tie the game at 4-all.
The Tigers didn’t stop there. Layton Lindsey delivered a two-out RBI single to put his team ahead for the first time, 5-4. Two batters later, with two runners on base, Thompson capped the electric half-inning by crushing his first homer of the season — a three-run shot — to swing Hopkinsville ahead 8-4.
Mitchell added an insurance run with a bases-loaded walk in the sixth inning, which ended up being a key moment. Trailing 9-6 in the final inning, Madisonville (5-17) looked poised to pull off a rally of their own, as Cadence and Courtland Gibson respectively came up with an RBI triple and RBI single to cut the HHS lead to 9-8. With the winning run at the plate on two instances, however, Hoptown relief pitcher Dylan Sweeney registered back-to-back strikeouts to end the back-and-forth affair.
Andrew Mayes (1-1) racked up six of the 11 K’s recorded by Tiger pitching and earned his first victory of the year with a four-inning effort. Mayes gave up four hits, four walks and three earned runs before turning it over to Sweeney, who had five strikeouts to go along with six hits and four runs.
Lear (0-5) allowed eight hits and nine runs in 2 1/3 innings of relief to take the loss. He was one of four Maroon pitchers to take the bump. Madisonville’s Aaron Hogart finished 3-for-3 with two RBI and a walk in defeat. Lear did his best to support his own cause with a 2-for-4 plate performance, including two runs, an RBI and a walk.
The five combined RBI from Thompson and Hallmark were key to the Hoptown offense. Thompson, Fort and Lucas Kaetzel each had two-hit games. The HR by Thompson was just the second hit by a Tiger in 2023. Each team had 10 hits Tuesday. Hopkinsville committed three errors.
Hoptown (9-15) is in action again Thursday at Logan County and returns to Tiger Field for its regular-season home finale May 8 against Lyon County. HHS finishes its postseason tuneup on the road against 1st Region opponents — May 11 at Calloway County and May 13 at Graves County.
