Four-Run Third Keys Lions’ Win
Lovelady 6 Leon 3
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
JEWETT – The Lovelady Lions traveled to Jewett on Tuesday to take on the Leon Cougars in a District 21-2A matchup. The Lions came into the contest with a district record of 2-1 and overall record of 5-3-1. The Cougars, on the other hand, were 1-2 in league play and 1-4 overall.
Lovelady sat a game behind Centerville for first place while Leon needed a win to stay relevant in the chase for the district crown and a berth in the postseason.
The Cougars jumped out to an early lead but a four-run third inning was all the Lions would need as they defeated their hosts by a final score of 6-3.
Leon sent Brock Bumpurs to the mound and he worked a 1-2-3 inning as he popped up both Slade Murray and JJ Crawford while Skylar Pipkin struck out.
Tyler Gilchrist got the nod for the Lions. He gave up a lead-off single to Jose Carrizales, but when he tried to steal second, Murray threw him out on a close play at the bag. Gilchrist then fanned Taylor Evans, walked Bumpurs and then got Ryan Bacak to ground into an inning ending 6-3 force at first.
After a quiet second from Lovelady, Leon took an early 1-0 lead in their half of the inning. Trevor Carrington led off with a single. Keston Johnson was up next but struck out. Noah Schrank drew a walk to move Carrington to second and when Gannen Wise singled up the middle, Carrington raced home to make the score 1-0.
That was all the Cougars would get, however, as T. Gilchrist struck out the next two hitters he faced to end the inning.
The Lions struck back with four in the top of the third to take a 4-1 lead. Lance Pierce led off with a walk and moved to second on a Troy Shupak sacrifice that was booted for an error. Brady Mikes followed in the lineup and sacrificed Pierce to third while Shupak moved to second.
Murray was up next and ripped a shot to short that was mishandled. Pierce scored on the play and Shupak took third. Crawford followed and he also reached on an error which pushed Shupak across the plate while Murray motored into third.
Pipkin was up next and he singled past short to drive in Murray and Crawford to make the score 4-1.
Bumpurs was able to hold the Lions right there and when Leon came into bat, Bumpurs got a little revenge. On the first pitch he saw, Bumpurs took a Gilchrist slider over the left field wall to trim the lead to 4-2.
That was as close as the Cougars would get, however, as the Lions added a run in the top of the fifth and another in the sixth to pull ahead 6-2. Leon would trim the lead to 6-3 in the bottom of the sixth but it was too little, too late as Lovelady held on to win by a final score of 6-3.
Gilchrist picked up the win with 6.1 innings of work. He gave up three runs on six hits, struck out 11 and walked five.
Bumpurs was saddled with the loss after going six innings. He gave up six runs (one earned) on four hits, striking out seven and walking four.
At the plate, the Lions were led by Pipkin who went 2-4 with two RBI while Slade Murray was 1-3 with two runs scored and an RBI.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
