VEEDERSBURG — Fountain Central’s baseball team showed a streak of resiliency in a 19-10 non-conference loss to Benton Central.
After the Bison jumped out to a 15-1 lead after two at-bats, it looked grim for the Mustangs.
But, they pecked away at the deficit, got some good relief pitching, and what first looked like a five-inning game stretched into a marathon that lasted 3:04 and saw the first gleams of the full moon in the right field sky.
Five runs in the fifth inning, on only two hits, taking advantage of four walks, two errors and two wild pitches, kept the game from ending early. Actually, the home team got it down to only eight runs, had some momentum, and BC was forced to re-enter most of the starters who had taken a seat on the bench in the third inning.
“These guys didn’t quit - they never give up,” Mustangs coach Adam Acton said. “They keep on playing no matter the score.”
The problem was the start, as FC falls to 7-8 on the season while Benton Central moves up to 4-6-1.
Nine runs in the first at-bat gave the Bison a huge cushion, and they used all their tools to put the crooked number on the board.
They collected five hits, drew three walks, got hit twice and capitalized on two FC errors.
The big hit was a grand-slam home run off the bat of Nick Fry. It was his first long ball of the year, and the first hit out at FC this season.
Six more in the second inning, on six hits, allowed BC to grow the cushion. All but one hitter went to the plate three times in the first two innings.
“Too many walks,” Acton noted. “We have to challenge hitters more and get those outs.”
Nic Swenson started for FC, but it wasn’t his night, and he gave way to Owen Acton in the first.
Acton got to the end of the second, and gave the ball to Michael Geller, who threw four innings, giving up only a wind-aided home run to Adrian Torres.
Carson Eberly pitched the seventh, and another wind-aided homer to Josh Swartz was the extent of his damages.
“We have all the confidence in the world in Nic,” Acton said of his junior starter. “It just wasn’t his night. The good news is that all the guys that threw tonight can throw again Thursday (against Covington in WRC action) and we have four guys ready for Tuesday (also against the Trojans).”
Acton collected two of the 10 FC hits, and scored twice. AJ Hall also scored a pair of runs. Eberly had two hits and scored once while Lukas Miller had another pair of hits. Geller and Luke Foxworthy each had two RBI.
The Bison had all 16 guys that got off the bus come to the plate at least once. They used six pitchers, as they also have conference games starting Tuesday, and by the time all the subs and pitching changes had taken place, most players had been in multiple defensive spots.
Landon Brighton started on the mound and picked up the win, his first of the season. For both Torres and Swartz, it was not only their first homers of the year, it was the first hit of the season.
“It’s short-term memory time,” Acton said. “We have a tough conference game Tuesday and again Thursday against Covington, and then we play the top-ranked team in the state (Lebanon) on Friday. We just have to forget about tonight and get after Covington, because they will come after us.”
Tuesday’s game is at home and the Thursday game is at Covington.
The Bison have West Lafayette, who defeated North Montgomery, on Tuesday at home, and go to Westside Wednesday. They travel to Crawfordsville on Friday.
