For the second time in as many days the Christian County Colonels left it late, following up Friday night’s eighth-inning win with another walk-off in the ninth frame to down visiting Graves County 3-2 on Saturday.
Gage Montes was a big part of the win over the Tigers with five strong innings on the mound, and he loomed large on Saturday with a single to drive in the winning run against the Eagles.
The Colonels struck first on Blake Boehman’s two-run single in the bottom of the first to hand starting pitcher Aiden Lewis a lead. Lewis allowed a single hit and a walk over the first three frames, but after Drake Defreitas led off the Eagles’ half of the fourth with a single, Coby Mullins followed with a two-run shot to left-center to tie the game.
Both teams threatened at times over the next three frames but couldn’t push a run across to send it to extra innings. The Eagles put runners on first and second in the top of the eighth and Christian County did the same in the bottom half, but both came up empty.
Graves looked poised to take the lead with runners on the corners with two outs in the ninth, but Sebastian Dazey capped three innings of relief on the mound with a strikeout to keep the game level.
With one out in the bottom of the ninth, a pair of Eagle errors opened the door for the Colonels. With a 2-2 count, Montes singled to right field, and pinch-runner Andrew Fincham motored home from second base to end the game.
Dazey earned the win for the Colonels, working three scoreless innings with a hit, a walk, and four strikeouts. Lewis surrendered two earned runs on three hits with a walk and six strikeouts, and Broden Kellum pitched two frames in between with two hits, a walk, and a strikeout.
Montes, Dazey, and Boehman each finished with two hits to lead the way at the plate.
Cole Woodard took the loss for the Eagles as they slipped to 18-7. Woodard allowed an unearned run on four hits with a walk and a strikeout over four and a third.
Christian County won its second straight for the third time this season to improve to 9-16 ahead of a visit from Caldwell County on Tuesday.
