The University Heights Academy baseball team suffered a walk-off 3-2 loss to hosts Muhlenberg County before earning a bounce-back 8-6 victory over South Warren in a Saturday doubleheader.
After snapping a three-game skid with a win in the second game, the Blazers moved to 10-8 ahead of a trip to Caldwell County on Monday.
Courtland Gibson’s RBI single gave UHA a lead in the top of the third against the Mustangs, and the Blazers doubled the advantage in the fourth on a Muhlenberg error.
After allowing only two singles over the first three frames, UHA starting pitcher Bryson Turner issued a two-out walk that came around to score on Deacon Addis’ single.
Josh Pace relieved Turner after five and a third innings and recorded the final two outs of the sixth to leave a man stranded at third base. However, after the Blazers went down in order in the top of the seventh, a lead-off single and an error put them on the ropes in the bottom of the frame.
After an out on a line drive to center, Muhlenberg’s Sumner Shelton hit a sharp ground ball and reached on an error to bring in two runs and give the Mustangs their fourth win in a row.
Pace took the loss for the Blazers, allowing two unearned runs on a hit with a strikeout. Turner gave up a single run on five hits with a pair of walks and three strikeouts.
Courtland Gibson led UHA with three hits, and four other Blazers hit safely once.
Shelton earned the win on the mound to help the Mustangs improve to 15-4, working one and two-thirds scoreless innings with a walk and a strikeout. Talan Cartwright pitched the first five and a third, giving up two unearned runs on seven hits with three walks and seven strikeouts.
In the second matchup, South Warren used a five-run first to take control, but the Blazers closed with six runs over the final two frames to earn a come-from-behind victory.
Courtland Gibson’s RBI single got the Blazers on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first. UHA starting pitcher Jackson Flynn exited after hitting back-to-back batters with one out in the second, and Ryan Luckey took over to get the final two outs.
UHA pulled a run back in the bottom of the third on Courtland Gibson’s second RBI single, but South Warren restored the four-run advantage on Brandon Perkins’ run-scoring single in the top of the fifth. The Blazers made the Spartans pay for a walk and a pair of errors in the bottom of the frame, trimming the margin to a run after Courtland Gibson’s sacrifice bunt.
The Blazers tied the game at 6-6 courtesy of a South Warren error in the sixth, and took their first lead of the game on Flynn’s RBI single. With runners on second and third, Courtland Gibson grounded out for his fourth RBI of the game to round out the scoring.
With the tying run at the plate and a runner on third, Luckey got the final out to finish off a strong performance on the mound. In five and two-thirds innings, he allowed a single run on two hits with four walks and a pair of strikeouts to earn his second win of the season.
Courtland Gibson, Hayden Hunt, and Flynn each finished with two hits for the Blazers, and Cadence Gibson had a hit and an RBI.
Griffin Rardin took the loss for the Spartans, allowing three runs, one earned, on a hit with two walks. Austin Allen worked the first five frames, giving up five runs, three earned, on six hits with a walk and four strikeouts.
