YATES CENTER — A passed ball with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning allowed Yates Center High’s Shane Shield to score the winning run as the Wildcats defeated Crest, 3-2, in the opening game of their doubleheader.
The Lancers didn’t waste much time fretting about the disappointment, however, as they scored six runs in the top of the first in Game 2, to roll to a 13-1 victory.
The split puts Crest at 7-5 on the year; Yates Center goes to 4-8.
A hit batsmen put Shield on first base to lead off Yates Center’s home half of the seventh inning. He stole second before Lancer pitcher Will Disbrow induced a pair of pop-outs. But a pair of passed balls from reliever Drake Weir on back-to-back pitches allowed Shield to take third and then scamper home with the game-winner.
Weir scored Crest’s first run of the game when he walked with two outs in the first. He moved to third on an error and scored on Dalton Kersley’s RBI single.
Gavin Riles singled to lead off Yates Center’s second, where he advanced on an error and then to third on a walk before scoring on a passed ball to tie the score at 1-1.
Jensen Barker reached on an error in the top of the fourth, moved all the way to third on a passed ball and scored on Kole Walter’s sacrifice fly to push Crest back on top, 2-1.
Kage Beck scored the equalizer for Yates Center in the fifth when he was hit by a pitch and stole second and third before scoring on Ben Cook’s sac fly.
The Lancers put runners on base in both the sixth and seven innings, but could not score.
Both starting pitchers were locked in from the start. Evan McVey allowed one hit over five innings with five strikeouts. Shield pitched two scoreless innings of relief, allowing two hits.
Barker pitched 4.2 innings for Crest, allowing one hit with six strikeouts. Disbrow struck out two over two innings.
Riles had Yates Center’s only hit. Henry White, Kersley and John Rolf all had singles for Crest.
Barker had an RBI single, Rolf and Kersley all had RBI singles, while White drove in a run with a double as Crest raced to a 6-0 lead after half an inning of the nightcap.
McVey tripled with two outs in the bottom half of the inning, scoring on Blake Morrison’s single for Yates Center’s only run of the game.
The Lancers responded quickly, loading the bases with no outs in the top of the second. Kersley walked to force in a run and Koiy Miller had an RBI grounder to push the margin to 8-1.
The Lancers pushed across two more in the fourth without benefit of a hit, Weir tripled and scored on an error before a passed ball allowed two more runs to score.
