The Mason County Royals baseball team took on the Nicholas County Blue Jackets Tuesday Night.
After losing to the Royals 9-2 their first meet this season, the Blue Jackets were out for redemption Tuesday night. Nicholas County scored the first run of the night in the top of the first inning after a single from Jacob Hatton sent Tate Letcher home to score. Nicholas County would be able to hold the Royals to zero after two strikeouts and a fly ball caught by second baseman Hatton in the bottom of the first.
“We made a few errors on the corners, but I like our defense. They’re seasoned, they’re veterans. Everybody around the field played quite a bit last year, and they’ll come through in the clutch when we need it.” said Blue Jackets head coach Josh Earlywine.
Mason County starting pitcher Cameron Rosel was working hard on the mound for the Royals, and fought through the second inning to hold back Nicholas County. Rosel and the Royals fielders were went to work defensively in the second inning, with Rosel striking out the first batter, the second getting out on a pop up caught by catcher Carson Pugh, and Wyatt Clark grounding out at first.
Tuesday nights game was a long, grueling battle of attrition.
It didn’t appear to be that way at first however. Nicholas County scored two more runs in the top of the third to pull away 3-0 heading into the second half of the inning. It wouldn’t be until the bottom of the fourth that Mason County would get any points on the board.
Cole Horch would score the first run for the Royals off of a ground ball single hit by Nathan Bisotti with two outs down. They would end the inning down 3-1 heading into the top of the fifth.
“We struggled at the top of the order. Generally it’s the been bottom of the order for us, tonight we struggled a little bit at the top, if we can ever get to hitting one through nine, we’re gonna be tough. I feel really good about where we’re at this part of the season. I just told them, it’s a grind all the way through and we just gotta have each others back, stay together and keep fighting, and never feel like we’re out of it because, I’ve got great kids and they’re built for these moments.” said Royals head coach, Jason Butler.
The Mason County fielders stayed on top of things and continued to hold back Nicholas County in the top of the fifth, and took to the batters box desperate for a comeback. After two outs back to back, with Landon Scilley striking out looking, and Pugh flying out in left field, it looked like the Royals were going to remain behind. That was until Blue Jackets pitcher Ryan Johnson walked Eli Porter, and RJ Fite tied the game up after a home run cleared the fence in deep left field.
Nicholas County would change pitchers, and end the inning tied up 3-3.
“Our infield is pretty solid, and I’ve got a center fielder out there, Porter, that will pretty much go get anything. My last words to him tonight was, play good defense and the offensive will come. and that’s in anything. Baseball, basketball, anything competitive, be on the defensive side of things, be solid and your time will come.” said coach Butler.
Not about to let the Royals surpass them, the Blue Jackets went to work in the sixth inning. They most certainly did not pull away as far as they would have liked to, but were able to score one run to pull ahead of Mason County 4-3 after Oscar Saucedo hit a double to deep left field, sending Lincoln Morris home for the run. Mason County pitcher Landon Scilley would then go on to get two strikeouts, and Wyatt Clark would ground out at first to end the top half of the inning.
Mason County was once again unable to pull ahead, with the Nicholas County defense holding them to zero in the bottom of the inning.
“It’s March baseball. It’s a good competitive atmosphere. I’ve stressed to my kids what happens in March is irrelevant to what happens in May, we want to win every game, but it’s March baseball and it was a heck of a game. You had both teams best pitchers battling it out.” said coach Earlywine.
In pure dramatic fashion, the Royals would come back to tie the game 4-4 in the bottom of the seventh inning, on a fly ball hit by Connor Butler which was caught for the out by right fielder Ryan Johnson, sending Fite home to score. The Royals would be unable to pull ahead after their tying run, sending the game into extra innings.
The Royals and Blue Jackets would battle hard defensively all throughout the eighth and ninth innings, neither giving up a single run.
The top of the tenth looked like Nicholas County was going to score, with the bases loaded and two outs down. Wyatt Clark went up to bat to hopefully bring one of his teammates home to score, but hit a fly ball deep to center field which was caught by Porter to end the top half of the inning.
The Royals took to the batters box hoping to end the game with a win. After getting two outs down back to back, it looked like the game was going to go to the top of the eleventh. That was until Eli Porter hit a line drive into center field to make it to first base, and Fite brought him home on a line drive double into center field.
The Royals won 5-4 over Nicholas County in the bottom of the tenth inning, after fighting tooth and nail for any leg up over the opposition.
“The brought in Scilley who’s one of the best pitchers in the region, and we hit him. I was glad to see that. Rosel, he’s a good pitcher. That’s the third time we’ve faced him and we’ve struggled every time. He does something to our bats that we struggle to hit him. It’s March and it just didn’t go our way there at the end.” said coach Earlywine.
“I was most proud of our kids for staying in the fight. We were down 3-0, and we stayed in the fight man. I’m really proud of our kids for believing in each other, that’s the sign of a great team.” said coach Butler.
The Royals will travel to Florida next week to participate in the Tampa Bay Spring Training tournament, taking on St. Mary’s from Lancaster New York, Lake Oconee Academy from Greensboro Georgia, Normandy from Parma Ohio, and Fairfax from Virginia.
“All I know is, next week we’ll be in the sunshine state, the extended forecast says it’ll be eighty-five and sunny. I can’t wait.” said coach Butler.
ROYALS 5, BLUE JACKETS 4
2B (MC) Fite (NC) Johnson, Saucedo
HR (MC) Fite (NC) Johnson
R (MC) Porter 2, Fite 2, Horch (NC) Letcher 2, Johnson, Morris
RBI (MC) Fite 3, Butler, Bisotti (NC) Johnson 2, Hatton, Saucedo
RECORDS Royals 4-1, Blue Jackets 2-3