Junior Dalton Brigance turned in his best start of the season and led the red-hot Muhlenberg County High School baseball team to another win Tuesday, as the host Mustangs bested Christian County 4-1. It’s Muhlenberg’s eighth win in nine games to begin the 2024 campaign.The victory was also No. 739 in the legendary coaching career of Greg Shelton, who previously coached the Colonels from 2015-2016.
Brigance (2-1) was brilliant for the ‘Stangs, striking out nine and scattering four hits during six shutout innings. The lone Christian County run of the night came when Aiden Lewis delivered a two-out RBI single off MHS reliever Madix Brannon in the seventh inning, but it’s all the Cols could muster en route to their fourth straight loss.
Christian County started the contest by loading the bases in the top of the first inning, as Gage Montes (single), Preston Phan (double) and Sebastian Dazey (walk) appeared to create a two-out scoring opportunity early. Brigance would buckle down, though, striking out Eddie Davis to end the threat; it was the first of five straight batters he would retire.
The Mustangs (8-1) got on the board in the bottom of the second, when Deacon Addis singled and scored on a fielder’s choice groundout by Colton Carver. It remained 1-0 until the fifth inning. That’s when Cortland Holmes would reach on a lead-off single and then score on a CCHS error, following a bunt by Easton Mefford. During the next at bat, facing a full count, Eli DeBoer made it 3-0 with an RBI single off Colonels starter Broden Kellum.
Of the 10 hits Muhlenberg County had in the game, four came during its three-run fifth inning. Looking for a rally, the Cols once again loaded the bases in the sixth inning, sparked by a two-out double from Phan, but Brigance once again used a clutch fanning of Thadius Toliver to escape another jam.
Kellum (2-1) went the distance on the CCHS bump but allowed 10 hits and four runs (three earned) during the six-inning performance. He walked none during his first loss of the season. Phan and Montes combined to go 4-for-7 at the plate. Ten different Colonels have now reached base via double in 2024.
Muhlenberg County was led offensively by Holmes (2-for-3, run), Brigance (2-for-3) and Talan Cartwright, who went 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and his team’s lone stolen base. Defensively, the Mustangs have allowed a mere 16 runs in nine games played. One of those was an 8-7 loss to Apollo.
Christian County (4-7) will attempt to snap its skid at 6 p.m. Friday at Greenwood. The Colonels are then scheduled to play the next day, beginning at noon, at Bowling Green. CCHS travels to Tennessee for a trio of games April 4-6.
