It wasn’t scheduled as a doubleheader, but Caldwell County and Murray played almost two games worth of baseball action Tuesday night.
The teams battled into the 13th inning before a two-out, run-scoring single gave the homestanding black-and-gold Tigers a 2-1 victory over the blue-and-gold Tigers.
It was just one inning short of the longest game in Caldwell baseball history.
Carson Tucker singled to right with two outs in the bottom of the 13th to finally end the marathon matchup. That scored Jordan Westbrook from third. Westbrook was the courtesy runner for Avery Starks, who had led off the inning with a walk.
Pitchers ruled the day, with Caldwell’s Scott Cortner and Channing Puckett allowing just one earned run on four base hits. Cortner struck out four and walked none in the first eight innings. Puckett, the tough-luck losing pitcher, fanned three and walked three while giving up just one hit in 4.2 innings.
Meanwhile, Will McCoil picked up the win for Murray after tossing the final seven innings. He allowed three hits while striking out five and walking two. Starter Cody Garner allowed one unearned run on four hits in six innings. He struck out seven and walked three.
Caldwell’s only run came in the top of the first inning. Puckett singled home Luke Parker with two outs after Parker had reached on an error.
A passed ball helped Murray get an unearned run in the bottom of the third. McCoil picked up the RBI with a groundout to first base.
That was all of the scoring until the 13th, with both teams posting zeroes for nine straight innings.
Caldwell’s Carter Whittington was the only player in the game with multiple base hits, going 2-for-5.
The loss ended a seven-game winning streak for Caldwell, which is now 8-2. Murray improved to 4-5. The teams will square off again Saturday in Princeton.
Caldwell was just one out away from getting the game to the 14th inning, which would have tied the longest game in school history.
The Tigers needed 14 innings to beat Marshall County 8-7 in the 2017 regular-season finale at the VFW Ballpark in Princeton. The Marshals scored three times in the top of the 14th to go up 7-4, but the Tigers countered with four in the bottom of the frame to pull out the win.
The only other game to go as far as 13 innings was a 12-9 victory at Muhlenberg South in the 1997 season. The Suns scored six runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to knot that game at 9-9, but the Tigers won it with three in the top of the 13th.
Caldwell will look to start another winning streak on Thursday when it hosts Dawson Springs for 7th District action.
