NEW MARKET – Coach Bill Woods reflected.
After all Monday was Senior Night for his five upper classmen at Mountie Field.
“I told them the beginning of the year I wanted them to set the tone with the fresh start to this program, so to speak,” Woods said. “They helped accomplish that.”
The result was not what Woods wanted to send his seniors off with, a 6-0 loss to Sagamore Athletic Conference foe Western Boone.
“We’ve been together for, shoot, 12 years,” senior Mason Hall said. “Most of us live in the same neighborhood so we’re always hanging out. It’s a bond I’m going to miss. We were trying to help build a program where people want to play. It’s just building habits to make our program better.”
Hall pitched respectably as he threw the first six innings for the Mounties (5-15, 0-12 SAC). He allowed three earned runs and seven hits, all singles, while striking out five.
“Mason threw the ball well,” Woods said. “Some untimely errors so we have to clean that up, but I was happy with how he threw. It could’ve been a 2-0 game without the errors and puts more pressure on (Western Boone) and Mason thrives on that. He’s thrown well the last three or four games.”
“Coach gives us a lot of curveballs and I felt like for the most part I was throwing those well,” Hall said. “I tend to hang those sometimes. With the fastballs I could jam some of the batters up. So control felt pretty good.”
Down 2-0 in the fourth inning South had its best offensive opportunity.
Senior Conner McKinney led off with a single to right. Two batters later Hall walked. Freshman Phisher Benge later reached on an error to load the bases with two out. Stars starter Luke Jackson was pulled at that point for Bryce Kopriva, who struck out Carter Hubble to end the threat.
Western Boone (11-14, 3-9) tallied single runs in the second and fourth. The Stars added a pair of unearned runs in the fifth thanks to a walk, hit and two South errors. Three singles helped plate the final two in the sixth.
Hubble and Gunnar Shirk had the other Mountie hits.
A bright spot for the Mounties was senior Adam Cox back in the lineup after a nearly season-long injury. He started at third base and pitched the last inning, playing nearly flawless both positions. He went 0-for-3 at the plate.
“It was nice to see him get back out there and compete,” Woods said. “Our intention probably wasn’t to play him the whole game, but it worked out. He threw off the mound well and that’s what we want him for going forward into the sectionals.”
Woods’ squad will be ready as the same two teams take the field at Western Boone today. First pitch is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
“I think we’re in a good spot heading toward next week. We have a lot of baseball to play before then. It’s going to be tough to practice. But that’s what we’re building to.”
