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Clark outfielder Pokey Harris, left, makes a catch in front of right fielder Scotty Turner in the seventh inning. (May 31, 2012) |
MOUNT¿STERLING¿— George Rogers Clark didn’t give up its 10th Region crown without a fight.
Despite a poor showing at the plate, the Cardinals overcame a 1-0 deficit and forced extra innings, only to come up short in a 2-1 loss to Bishop Brossart in eight innings Wednesday night at Whitaker Field in Mount Sterling.
Clark (20-14) trailed 1-0 during the first five innings, but tied the score at 1-1 in the sixth after Pokey Harris led off the inning with a triple and later scored on Logan McQuerry’s sacrifice fly. The three-bagger by Harris was one of just two hits the Cards mustered off Brossart starter Zach Fardo. Taylor Howard laced a single off Fardo in the third inning.
Fardo retired the last six batters he faced after Hunter Osborne reached on an error to open the seventh inning and retired the side in the eighth. In the bottom of the eighth, Fardo connected on a single off Clark pitcher Derek McKenzie to open the inning.
Fardo reached third on a throwing error to first by McKenzie on Tanner Norton’s bunt. McKenzie intentionally walked the next batter to load the bases and then walked Bobby Roderick on four pitches that scored the game-winner and sent the Mustangs (24-12) into tonight’s regional final at 5 p.m. against Harrison County at Whitaker Field. The Thorobreds (30-9), who lost to Bourbon County in last year’s regional semifinals, earned a ticket to the finals following a 2-1 triumph over the Colonels in the second game of a doubleheader Wednesday night.
Following the walk to Roderick, McKenzie walked off the field toward the dugout as Brossart players celebrated at home plate.
“That’s baseball and it’s going to happen,” Clark coach Matt Ginter said afterward. “These kids have battled all year long and we only got two hits. We didn’t get a whole lot of base runners and in a 1-1 ballgame and to lose like that, it’s pretty tough to deal with.”
Fardo finished with seven strikeouts and issued just one walk.
McQuerry said the Cards were “a little amped up.”
“We just weren’t seeing the ball well today,” said McQuerry, who ended his prep career as the school’s all-time hits leader and tied with Corbin’s B.J. Foley for second on the state’s all-time list with 236 hits. “We took swung at some bad pitches and let some pitches go that we should have swung at. We hits some balls hard, but they just didn’t fall. We made the plays and gave ourselves every possible (way) to win, but it didn’t come out that way. That’s just baseball.”
Osborne threw the first five and two-thirds innings and scattered four hits during his time on the mound.
Osborne fanned a pair of batters and walked two. Osborne gave up a triple to Jared Hahn to open the contest and surrendered just three hits during the next four innings. Ginter replaced Osborne in favor of Brent Stoneking in the sixth with runners at first and second with two outs. Stoneking got the last out of the inning on a grounder to short, but left the mound after issuing a leadoff walk to open the seventh inning.
McKenzie, the team’s ace, walked two batters and struckout one.
Ginter said he planned to stay with McKenzie through the duration of the contest.
“He would have pitched until 15 innings if we had to,” he said. “He would have stayed there didn’t do any good to hold him until (today) because we had to get there first.”
Despite a poor showing at the plate, the Cardinals overcame a 1-0 deficit and forced extra innings, only to come up short in a 2-1 loss to Bishop Brossart in eight innings Wednesday night at Whitaker Field in Mount Sterling.
Clark (20-14) trailed 1-0 during the first five innings, but tied the score at 1-1 in the sixth after Pokey Harris led off the inning with a triple and later scored on Logan McQuerry’s sacrifice fly. The three-bagger by Harris was one of just two hits the Cards mustered off Brossart starter Zach Fardo. Taylor Howard laced a single off Fardo in the third inning.
Fardo retired the last six batters he faced after Hunter Osborne reached on an error to open the seventh inning and retired the side in the eighth. In the bottom of the eighth, Fardo connected on a single off Clark pitcher Derek McKenzie to open the inning.
Fardo reached third on a throwing error to first by McKenzie on Tanner Norton’s bunt. McKenzie intentionally walked the next batter to load the bases and then walked Bobby Roderick on four pitches that scored the game-winner and sent the Mustangs (24-12) into tonight’s regional final at 5 p.m. against Harrison County at Whitaker Field. The Thorobreds (30-9), who lost to Bourbon County in last year’s regional semifinals, earned a ticket to the finals following a 2-1 triumph over the Colonels in the second game of a doubleheader Wednesday night.
Following the walk to Roderick, McKenzie walked off the field toward the dugout as Brossart players celebrated at home plate.
“That’s baseball and it’s going to happen,” Clark coach Matt Ginter said afterward. “These kids have battled all year long and we only got two hits. We didn’t get a whole lot of base runners and in a 1-1 ballgame and to lose like that, it’s pretty tough to deal with.”
Fardo finished with seven strikeouts and issued just one walk.
McQuerry said the Cards were “a little amped up.”
“We just weren’t seeing the ball well today,” said McQuerry, who ended his prep career as the school’s all-time hits leader and tied with Corbin’s B.J. Foley for second on the state’s all-time list with 236 hits. “We took swung at some bad pitches and let some pitches go that we should have swung at. We hits some balls hard, but they just didn’t fall. We made the plays and gave ourselves every possible (way) to win, but it didn’t come out that way. That’s just baseball.”
Osborne threw the first five and two-thirds innings and scattered four hits during his time on the mound.
Osborne fanned a pair of batters and walked two. Osborne gave up a triple to Jared Hahn to open the contest and surrendered just three hits during the next four innings. Ginter replaced Osborne in favor of Brent Stoneking in the sixth with runners at first and second with two outs. Stoneking got the last out of the inning on a grounder to short, but left the mound after issuing a leadoff walk to open the seventh inning.
McKenzie, the team’s ace, walked two batters and struckout one.
Ginter said he planned to stay with McKenzie through the duration of the contest.
“He would have pitched until 15 innings if we had to,” he said. “He would have stayed there didn’t do any good to hold him until (today) because we had to get there first.”
