Macon Baseball April 22nd to April 28th

Last week the Macon Tigers would have a full plate to clean with two games to start the week and then a trip to Chillicothe for their annual tournament. The Tigers would start with a trip to South Shelby to battle the Cardinals. Macon would jump on the Cardinals early in the top of the first. Justin Hayes would leadoff and reached on an error. Eric Moore would follow with a walk but the Tigers would run into an out. Ryan Petre followed with a walk and Nash Waller would force an error to give Macon the lead. as Jamison Hogsett walked and Cruz Lewis is hit by a pitch to load the bases. Shallow then walked the next run in to lead by two. Dominick Mitchell was hit by a pitch to expand the lead to three. Chrisjen Riekeberg added one more run with another bases loaded walk. The Tigers had a 4-0 lead without a hit. Ryan Petre made the start and allowed two Cardinals to reach base but kept them from home. In the second the Tigers would get a more conventual run with a leadoff single by Moore. Petre is hit by a pitch and then Waller singled into center for a 5-0 score. The score would remain the same until the top of the fifth. The Tigers would use a two out rally to add to their lead. Riekeberg walked and would score later score on an error. Hayes and Moore walked and Hayes would find home on a passed ball. Waller singled and then Hogsett put Macon up by nine with an RBI single to center. The Cardinals would breakup the shutout with a run in the bottom of the fifth. Macon would end the game in the sixth, with one out Mitchell singled and would score on a base hit by Riekeberg. Hayes followed with an RBI double to left and then would score on another double by Moore. The Tigers would send the Cardinals down in order to end the inning and the game with a 12-1 victory. “It was nice to get back on the field after having a week off. Our pitching was pretty solid throughout the game. Defensively, we played well and committed zero errors. In general, our lineup struggled keeping our weight back and not getting out on our front foot the first 2-3 innings. Eventually guys started making the adjustments and we started hitting the ball harder the last couple of innings and started scoring more consistently. This was a good start to what is going to be a busy week for us. Hopefully we can continue to play well as we head to Knox County tomorrow night.” Coach Robuck

The Tigers would face off against the Eagles on the road the following evening in Edina. Macon would again get out to an early lead in the first. Hayes doubled and was throw out trying to turn it into a triple. Eric Moore walked and with two outs Waller is hit by a pitch and Hogsett followed with a single for the lead. Waller would then score on a wild pitch to put Macon up by two. Hogsett would be up on the rotation and would shutdown Knox County to end the inning. The Tigers would keep up the pressure in the top of the second. With two outs, Riekeberg and Hayes walked and Riekeberg scored on an error. Moore singled in Hayes and Petre doubled home the fifth run with a double to center. In the bottom of the inning, two Eagles would reach but Hogsett would not allow them to score. The Tigers offense would continue to hum in the next inning. Hogsett singled and Lewis walked to leadoff the inning. A double play would pause the offense but Mitchell would add another run with a single to short. Moore entered the game to pitch and allowed a leadoff walk, but did not allow the runner to score. The Tigers offense would keep adding runs in the fourth. Hayes singled and Moore walked, Petre then singled to short for an RBI. Waller walked and Hogsett made it 8-0 with an RBI groundout. Macon would start the fifth with another leadoff runner on a single by Mitchell, but for the first time the Tigers could not push him home. Knox County would load the bases in the bottom of the inning but the Tigers would leave them standing on base. In the top of the sixth, Macon would extend the lead to double digits. Petre walked and went to third on a double by Waller. Hogsett brought both of them home with a double to center. Lewis walked and Swallow made the score 10-0 with a single. Mitchell sent another run home on a fielder’s choice and Lewis would make the score 12-0 on a passed ball. Hayes would add another single but the Tigers would settle on a dozen runs. The Eagles would need to score three runs to extend the game and that’s just what they did to make the score 12-3. The Tigers would get those runs back and add more in the seventh. Petre and Waller singled and would score on a double by Hogsett. Lewis and Murr walked to load the bags and Mitchell walked in the next run. Lewis scored on a wild pitch, Riekeberg walked and Pilllers drove in a run with a groundout to lead 17-5. Duncan would bring home one more Tiger on a groundout to extend the advantage. Knox County would not give up and scored five times in the bottom of the inning but it would not be enough to catch the Tigers. Macon would take the victory 18-8. “I thought we did a lot of good things at the plate tonight. We had a lot of hits and base runners throughout the game. I liked how we were aggressive on the base paths and advanced runners once they got on base. We continued to play pretty good defense throughout the game. We had to have several guys pitch tonight in order to keep pitchers eligible for our upcoming games in the Chillicothe tournament. Hopefully we can play well in the tournament continue the momentum we have right now.”

The Tigers would start the Tournament with a first-round game on Thursday against the host Chillicothe Hornets. Macon would continue to take an early lead on the road. Hayes single to leadoff, Moore sacrificed him to second, Petre reached on a dropped third strike and Waller gave Macon the lead with a single. Hogsett reached on an error and then Lewis made it 2-0 on a fielder’s choice. Waller would then score the final run of the inning for a 4-0 lead. Waller would then go to the mound and send the Hornets down in order. Swallow would start the next inning with a single but was unable to score. Chillicothe would bring home their first run in the bottom of that inning. The Tigers would get that run right back in the top of the third. Petre reached on and error and Waller followed with a single to short. Hogsett would use an infield single to bring home the next run. Waller would add another run on a wild pitch to lead 6-1. The Tigers offense would keep clicking in the fourth. Hayes doubled and scored on a one out RBI by Petre. With two outs, Hogsett tripled to score Hayes. Mitchell would then force an error to make the lead 9-1. The Tigers would have three more runners reach in the fifth on a double by Swallow a single by Riekeberg and a walk to Hayes but were not able to add to their lead. The Hornets put another run across the plate in the bottom of that inning to trail Macon 9-2. Macon would have their bats smoking in the top of the sixth. With two outs the Tigers turned on the Merry-go-round. Mitchell walked and Lewis tripled him home. Swallow would then walk as Lewis scored on a wild pitch. Riekeberg singled and Hayes walked to load the bags. Moore scored a run with a hit-by-pitch, Petre singled home a run, Waller walked home the next and Hogsett would then clean the plate with a Grand Slam Homerun to right. Macon would then again load the bags with a single by Mitchell and Lewis and a walk to Remington Teter. Murr would add one last run with another walk to lead 19-2. The Tigers would end the game early and prepare for their next game later that day. “We were pretty sharp in all aspects of baseball in this game. We hit the ball as well as we have all season and a lot of different guys contributed to the cause. Nash did a nice job of giving us a good start on the hill and holding their offense in check.”

In the second round the Tigers would faceoff against Benton later that afternoon. Unlike the games earlier in the week the Tigers would go down in order to start the game. Benton would pick up a run in the bottom of the first and Macon would trail for the first time all week. The Tigers would only allow that to lat one inning as they came up to bat in the second. Waller walked to leadoff and scored two outs later on a double by Lewis. Swallow would then give Macon the lead with another double to center. Benton would hold serve and score a run in the bottom of the inning to tie the game. In the top of the third, back came the Tigers. Hayes and Moore singled, then Macon took the lead with an RBI single from Petre. Waller would then make the score 4-2 with a base hit to short. The Tigers had doubled up on Benton. Benton would not trail for long as they came back with two runs of their own to again tie the game. The score would stay the same until the top of the fifth. Moore reached on an error and advanced one out later on a single by Waller. Hogsett would walk to load the bags and then with two outs Lewis would get a clutch two-run singe to center giving Macon a 6-4 lead. Benton would again reply, this time with three runs to take the lead in this see-saw battle. Macon would have runners reach in the next two innings but was unable to bring them home with the tying run. The Tigers would take the loss in a close battle with Benton 6-7. “This was a pretty back and forth game. Benton is a good team and we competed well with them. We had some defensive miscues that came back to hurt us multiple times in the game. We really continued to swing the bats well as a team, but just didn’t play clean enough baseball to come out on top.”

The Tigers would play for Third place on Saturday against Kirksville. Kirksville would leadoff the game and take an early two-run lead on the Tigers. After holding down the hot Macon offense, Kirksville would score two more runs in the second to double their lead. In the bottom of that inning the Tigers would start chipping away with a double by Hogsett who would later cross home on a wild pitch. The two teams would have opportunities to score in the next several innings but could not change the scoreboard until the seventh. Kirksville would score two more runs in the top of the inning to lead the Tigers 6-1. Macon had one last at bat to try and catch Kirksville. With one out Mitchell singled and would score on a double to center by Lewis. The Tigers rally would come up a little short and they would take the loss 2-6. “We struggled early in the game with our command on the mound and that led to us giving up some early runs. We eventually settled in and were able to contain their offense and keep the game close so we had a chance. Offensively, we had a hard time getting any timely hits when we had runners on base. There were several times in the last few innings when we hit the ball solid, but just couldn’t find a hole. We will look to get rested up and then will get back at it Monday with another busy week coming up.”