NEW MARKET — A small weather delay wasn’t going to stop Southmont baseball’s offense on Friday. The Mounties hosted the Fountain Central Mustangs, nearly every player that stepped up to the plate made an impact on the game as South poured it on by scoring a season-high 17 runs in a 17-6 win over the Mustangs.
With a 13-6 lead and looking to add more in the bottom of the fourth inning, mother nature made her presence known as the game was delayed slightly under an hour. When the game resumed, so did the Southmont bats. Mason Hall cranked his state-leading 5th home-run of the season off of the left field foul pole for a three-run homer as the senior has three home-runs this week.
“We’ve talked with Mason a lot this season about being more patient and waiting for his pitch,” first year Southmont coach Bill Woods said. “He’s done a good job of doing just that and drawing a lot walks (seven on the year). It’s still a long season and he knows that he’s still going to see some tough pitching along the way. The conference guys know him and how dangerous he can be so there’s some definite challenges still ahead for him.”
Eight different Mounties combined for the team’s 12 hits in the win. Through the first two innings Fountain Central was able to hold onto a 4-2 lead as they got to starting pitcher Gunnar Shirk. FC drew six walks over the first two innings and scored first on an RBI double from Owen Acton.
The Mounties gained the lead for the first time in the bottom of the third when Caden Jones doubled home Ryan Bowman. Trip Ward then scored Colton Cory on a sac-fly followed by Shirk doubling home Dylan Howell as the Mounties led 5-4. Two FC runs in the fourth gave the Mustangs the lead again at 6-5 before the Mounties erupted for 12 runs in the fourth.
Jones led the way with three hits and a pair of RBI”s while Chayce Howell and Phisher Benge each had two. Conner McKinney had a bases clearing triple while Hall's three RBI’s all came on his big time home run. Shirk also added three RBI’s in the Mountie win.
“We’ve talked about all year being able to just put the ball in play and good things will happen,” Woods said. “We feel like we’re comfortable where we’re at right now as we know if a couple of plays go our way we could have a couple of more wins. We’re not satisfied though as we still have some things to overcome with losing Adam (Cox due to a hamstring injury). When we get him and Dylan (Howell) back that will be a big help for us.”
The Mounties with the win snap a four-game losing streak after beginning the season at 3-0. As Woods mentioned there were some close calls in those games that could’ve changed the outcome in South’s favor, however despite the small skid Woods credited his team for not hanging their heads and coming out ready to play.
“This was a big game for us,” he said. “We needed this one to re-gain some momentum. When you look back at the week as a whole, obviously Mason has a had a great week as has Gunnar who’s starting to hit at the bottom of the order for us. Guys like Phisher Benge too. Those younger freshman have come in and been a great addition to our team so far.”
For the Mustangs they ended the game with five hits in the loss. Junior Brayden Prickett was a bright spot at the plate as he went 3-3. Cole Garbison and Acton had one hit each.
On the mound freshman Bradon Terry took the loss for the Mustangs as he lasted just a third of an inning. He gave up four hits and seven earned runs while walking two.
Hall came into the game for the final three innings for South and collected the win. He allowed three hits and two earned runs while striking out six and walking three.
Fountain Central falls to 0-7 on the season while the Mounties get back to .500 at 4-4.
Southmont will return to action on Tuesday as they begin the second week of Sagamore Conference play by traveling to Frankfort. Fountain Central will be quickly back in action as they travel to North Vermillion on Saturday for a WRC double-header.
