KING — Junior Mikah Webster’s single to right field in the bottom of the eighth inning gave West Stokes a 5-4 Mid-State 2A Conference win over visiting McMichael on Thursday, April 25. The Wildcat win secured second place in league play heading into next week’s conference tournament that is being hosted by West Stokes.
The Wildcats got on the board first when Kahle Lickfeld scored on Tyler Moran’s double in the bottom of the second inning. Lickfeld walked and stole second before scoring.
McMichael responded in the top of the fourth, scoring two runs and taking the lead. Austin Wagoner doubled with one out and moved to third on Cody Dillard’s infield hit. Carson Jackson doubled platting Wagner with Dillard advancing to third. Colin Mitchell worked the count to two balls, two strikes, when Dillard swiped home, just barely making it under Dru Hall’s tag to give the visitors a 2-1 lead.
The game went scoreless over the next two innings until the Purple Cats scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth and took a 3-2 lead.
Jacob Hooker singled with one out and moved to second on Lickfeld’s bunt single. After Hall popped out to the pitcher, Moran singled to third base, but Dillard’s throw sailed allowing both Hooker and Lickfeld to score.
With McMichael down to their last strike in the top of the seventh inning, Dunn roped a line drive double to left field on a 2-2 count keeping their hopes alive. After a pitching change from West Stokes, Easton Tillman singled to left field scoring pinch runner Cooper Kirkpatrick and tying the score at 3-3.
The Wildcats put two runners on base in the bottom of the seventh but could not push them across sending the game to extra innings.
McMichael struck first, scoring on a squeeze play with one out. Dillard singled to start the inning and then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Grayson Shelton reached on a dropped third strike advancing Dillard to third setting up Eli Gann’s sacrifice bunt to take the lead at 4-3. Riley Tuttle struck out Brady Dunn to end the inning.
Hall singled to start the rally for West Stokes in the bottom of the eighth inning. Hall advanced to second on a wild pitch. Moran recorded another infield hit with Hall scoring on an error by the pitcher knotting the game at 4-4. Moran moved all the way to third base on the errant throw. McMichael intentionally walked Dylan Gastley for the third time in the game. Spencer Boles also walked setting up Webster’s heroic hit.
Tuttle earned the win for West Stokes allowing two hits, one unearned run over one and one-third innings, striking out three and walking none. Gastley started on the mound for the Wildcats, lasting six and two-thirds innings striking out 12 and walking none.
Tillman started for the Phoenix going five and two-thirds innings surrendering five hits, three runs, striking out six, and walking five. Dunn took the loss giving up four hits and two runs over one and one-third inning.
Moran led the Cats with three hits in five at bats and Hooker recorded two in three at bats. Moran and Webster each had an RBI hit. Gastley was 1-for-1 with four walks. Jackson, Dillard, and Tillman each collected two hits each in the game for the Phoenix.
West Stokes improved to 16-5 overall and finished 10-2 in the Mid-State. McMichael dropped to 14-10 and secured third place with an 8-4 record.
West Stokes 5, McMichael 4
McMichael 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 1 – 4 8 5
West Stokes 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 2 – 5 9 1
2B: Tyler Moran (WS), Austin Wagoner (McM), Carson Jackson (McM), Easton Tillman (McM), Jace Dunn (McM); HBP: Jace Dunn (McM); SB: Jacob Hooker (WS), Riley Tuttle (WS), Kahle Lickfeld (WS), Tyler Moran (WS), Carson Jackson (McM), Cody Dillard (McM), Easton Tillman (McM); CS: Mikah Webster (WS), Will Santoro (WS); Error: Dylan Gastley (WS), Cody Dillard (McM) 2, Easton Tillman (McM), Grayson Shelton (McM), Jace Dunn (McM)
McMichael Pitching: Easton Tillman – 5.2IP, 5H, 3R, 2ER, 5BB, 6K; Jace Dunn (L) – 1.1IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 4BB, 0K
West Stokes Pitching: Dylan Gastley - 6.2IP, 6H, 3R, 3ER, 0BB, 12K; Riley Tuttle (W) – 1.1IP, 2H, 1R, 0ER, 0BB, 3K
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