Playing their toughest opponent of the young season on Thursday, Crawfordsville American Legion Byron Cox Post 72 hosted Lafayette Post 11 looking to remain undefeated. Post 72 ended up dropping the game 8-7 in a close battle as Post 72 scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth and had the tying run at second base in the seventh.
It looked as if Post 72 (3-1) was in a prime spot to even potentially walk it off after Covington’s Karver Fye drew a lead-off walk. But then on a n infield single from Kaiden Underwood, Fye attempted to take third and was thrown out. After Underwood stole second base and Roman Utterback popped out, it was up to North Montgomery’s Jarrod Kirsch to drive in the tying run. Kirsch would be thrown out a dropped third strike as Post 72 suffered its first loss of the season.
“We started a little flat and fell behind early, but we kept battling all game long,” Post 72 coach Kyle Proctor said. “Early on you can see what good pitching can do . We just had way too many walks and too many mistakes. When you give them extra base runners and extra chances, a good team like they are will capitalize off of that. We tied it in the second at 4-4 then come right back out and give up the lead. We did make them sweat it out and came back and had our chances.”
After being down 4-1, Post 72 evened things back up a 4-4 in the second, Lafayette (1-0) scored four more to extend the lead again. After the first three innings Lafayette wouldn’t score the rest of the game as North Montgomery’s Roman Utterback came in and pitched a great four innings of relief allowing just four hits while striking out three and walking just one. He came in to relieve starting pitcher Deacon Spencer who went just three innings and gave up eight hits and seven earned runs while walking four and striking out three.
“The big difference when Roman came in was that he was hitting his spots and he pitched very well for us,” Proctor said. “Deacon hasn’t thrown in over a month so you could tell that he was a little rusty on the mound. We have confidence in Deacon and any of our guys that once they get back into a rhythm of throwing that they’ll be fine.”
Post 72 had seven hits offensively on the night. Keifer Wilson and Fye both had a pair of hits. Both of them had a double in the loss. Spencer, Underwood, and AJ Hall all had a single hit each.
Lafayette was led by ninth place hitter Eli Kelly who was on base all four times and was a perfect 3-3. Post 11 tallied 11 total hits in the win.
The busy week continues for Post 72 as once again they’ll be back home tonight for another tough challenge when they host Kokomo.
“They’ll be fundamentally sound.” Proctor said of Kokomo. “They might now have the same pitching but they’ll be just as good we assume at the plate.”
First pitch is scheduled for 7 pm.
