Mt. Pleasant baseball team eliminated in Fairfield

BY ANDY KRUTSINGER

Mt. Pleasant News

FAIRFIELD ? A rough week for Henry County sports teams continued on Monday night in Fairfield. The Mt. Pleasant baseball team was knocked out in its district championship game, 11-4 by the hosting Trojans.

After a scoreless Panther top of the first, Fairfield drew first blood quickly in the bottom half with a solo homerun by Alex Crile on the very first pitch.

Later in the inning with runners on, Austin Simpson hit a sharp ground ball that scored two on a Mt. Pleasant error. Tristan Ledger then sent a long fly ball to left field that was nearly caught on a diving attempt by Tyler Davis. The ball hit the ground, however, and it was 4-0 Trojans after one inning.

?It should have been probably one earned run that first inning with the leadoff home run and we gave them three more,? said head coach Brent Broeker after the game. ?It just kind of went sour from there. We booted the ball around way too much.?

With the bases loaded and one out in the second inning, Mt. Pleasant starter Dalton Shull looked to get a double play ball to get out of the inning, but another Mt. Pleasant error led to two more runs to make it 6-0 after two.

The Panthers started to claw back in the third inning. After back-to-back walks to Jordan Magnani and Keegan Rich started the inning, Pat Canby started the rally off with a single to left field that brought in the first Mt. Pleasant run.

Zac Ebeling then loaded the bases again with a single. Cooper Huckabone and Caleb Potts each brought a run in with back-to-back sacrifice flies, but Ledger struck out Cale Christner and the Panther still trailed, 6-3.

Shull was able to hold Fairfield silent in the bottom of the third and it looked like momentum was firmly with Mt. Pleasant, but a scoreless top of the fourth opened the door for the Trojans to pull away.

The Panther defense had trouble again in the fourth inning, allowing four more runs, including two on an opposite field single by Simpson. The score was 11-3 after four innings and the Panthers had a lot of work to do.

Colby Potts came in to relieve Shull in the fifth inning and held the Trojans scoreless. Mt. Pleasant got a spark of hope in the top of the sixth when Huckabone sent a bomb to left field for a solo homer, but the Trojans answered back with one in the bottom of the sixth and that?s where the scoring would end.

?We got it to 6-3 and then we just went dormant,? Broeker said about the loss. ?Against a good team like that, you can?t go dormant.?

Mt. Pleasant was eliminated from postseason play with the loss, but they?ll bring the vast majority of the team back next season. Christner is the only senior, meaning the Panthers have just one hole to fill in 2017.

?I hope we?ll be just as good (next year),? Broeker says. ?We should be able to compete for the conference again. It could be a good race next year.?

The Trojans move on to the substate final on Wednesday, July 20, at 7 p.m. They will face Solon in that game and the contest will be played in Washington.