Caldwell County survived a scare from Madisonville-North Hopkins to wrap up the No. 1 seed for the 7th District baseball tournament.
The Tigers won for the 11th time of 12 outings when they held off the Maroons 5-3 Thursday at the VFW Ballpark.
Caldwell (11-2 overall, 4-0 district) never trailed, but Madisonville (8-8, 2-2) rallied late to make things tight.
Down 4-1, the Maroons scored twice in the top of the fifth inning and still had runners at second and third with just out one.
However, Caldwell starter Ari Wells came up with his 10th and 11th strikeouts of the day to keep the Tigers in the lead, 4-3.
Mitchell Phelps came on in relief to pick up his second save of the season. He retired six of the seven batters he faced, with an error accounting for a one-out baserunner in the seventh.
Westin King doubled and score as part of a two-run first that put Caldwell in front. Channing Puckett had an RBI single in the frame while another run scored on a wild pitch.
Madisonville made it 2-1 in the top of the second on Evan Lear’s RBI double.
But Caldwell came back with two runs of its own to go up 4-1. King singled home a run while another came in on a balk.
That’s where it stayed until the fifth, when back-to-back run-scoring singles by Brantley Harris and Alex Richards made it a one-run game. The Maroons had two on with one out and the bases loaded with two outs, but could not get the tying run home.
Caldwell tacked on an unearned run in the sixth to make it 5-3.
Wells (1-1) was the winning pitcher, allowing three runs on five hits over the first five innings.
Offensively, Luke Parker was 3-for-4 and scored twice while King finished 2-for-3 and drove in two.
Drew Stevens was 2-for-3 while Puckett also singled.
Harris, the Madisonville starter, was the losing pitcher. He allowed four runs on six base hits.
Harris was 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI while Lear had the double. Ryder Sandidge and Alex Richards each singled,
The Tigers defeated the Maroons 11-4 two days earlier in Madisonville.
Caldwell has won five straight from Madisonville. However, the Maroons lead the all-time series 57-40.
With only three teams in the 7th District this season (Dawson Springs is not fielding a varsity team), the No. 1 seed gives Caldwell a spot in the district championship game along with a berth in the 2nd Region tournament.
The Tigers will go to Graves County on Friday.
Madisonville visits Livingston Central on Friday.
