RICHMOND, Ind. – The Lincoln baseball team ended up on the winning side of a wild affair on Thursday to advance to the semifinals of the Class 1A Seton Sectional at McBride Stadium.
The Golden Eagles lost an early six-run lead, but bounced back by scoring six times in the top of the seventh inning without a hit to come away with an 18-14 victory over defending sectional champ Blue River.
“We just tried to stay real positive and hope we could keep them going,” Lincoln Head Coach Tom Gable said. “They got the job done. That’s what matters in the tournament.”
Thursday’s win was the first sectional victory for any of the current Golden Eagles.
“It feels good,” said Lucian Cornett, who earned the victory on the mound for Lincoln.
“We got down early, but we didn’t get down (emotionally) like we have earlier this year and we came back and we stuck with it,” Cornett added. “It was the most exciting game I’ve ever played.”
Lincoln will play Hagerstown in the semifinals on Friday at 5:30 p.m. Hagerstown defeated Union City 10-0 on Thursday to advance.
“We’re going to have to play hard,” Cornett said. “We can’t get down at all. We have to keep at it.”
After the six-run opening frame, the Golden Eagles fell behind 10-6 by the end of the third.
“We’ve been bad about getting behind and not coming back and being resilient,” Gable said.
Not on Thursday. Lincoln scored three runs in the fourth and fifth innings to eventually tie the contest at 12-12.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Golden Eagles got in trouble with Cornett, who had been on the mound since the third inning.
“We had to go with him and just ride him out,” Gable said.
Cornett hit a batter with the bases loaded to put the Vikings on top 13-12, but Lincoln rallied to score six runs in the next inning as the Blue River pitchers walked four batters and hit four more to allow the Golden Eagles to put the game away.