Peyton Ortiz’s infield single with two outs in the bottom of the 8th capped off a come from behind effort for the Todd County Central Rebels Friday night in a 7-6 win over Kirkwood. The Rebels scored solo runs in the 4th, 6th, and the 8th to overcome a two-run deficit.
Todd County had jumped out to a 4-0 lead with a big inning in the bottom of the second. The Rebels took advantage of three walks and a Kirkwood error in the inning to get to the lead. The Rebels got key hits in the inning with a RBI singles from Lane Thomas and Ethan Harris.
Kirkwood came back with three runs in the top of the third and three more in the top of the fourth to take the lead at 6-4.
The Rebels got one of the runs back in the bottom half of the fourth with an RBI single from Tommy VanBeber to cut the lead to 6-5.
Todd County Central pulled even in the bottom of the sixth. Freshman Ty Jolly singled to left to drive in Conner Wheeler to tie the game up at 6-6, setting the stage for the extra inning drama.
Jolly also came up big on the mound in the top of the 8th. Brought in with two outs and the bases loaded for Kirkwood, he induced a pop up to end the threat in the inning.
Conner Wheeler led off the bottom of the 8th with a single. Ethan Harris drew a one-out walk and then Lane Thomas was hit with a pitch with two outs to set up the game-winning hit.
Peyton Ortiz finished 4-5 with four RBIs and a run scored. Conner Wheeler was 2-4 with three runs scored. Ty Jolly was 1-4 with 2 RBIs.
Tommy VanBeber got the start for the Rebels on the mound. He went 7 ⅔ innings, giving up six runs, on nine hits, striking out nine and walking five.
