LIBERTY, Ind. – The Hagerstown baseball team fell behind early on Friday, but the Tigers responded to bounce back with an 8-4 Tri-Eastern Conference win at Union County.
The Patriots built a 4-0 lead after three innings, but Hagerstown Head Coach Brad Catey wasn’t too concerned.
“I don’t think there was a seed of doubt in my player’s heads,” Catey said. “The dugout was up and they knew eventually things were going to go their way.”
That started happening in the fourth inning as Hagerstown was finally able to get on the scoreboard.
“We hit the ball hard and didn’t score anything,” Catey said of the first three frames. “Then we stopped hitting the ball as hard and scored a lot of runs.”
The Tigers scored four unearned runs with some help from the Patriots.
“You just have to keep plugging away and have the right mental approach,” Catey said. “We know physically we’re going to be in every game, it’s just a matter of are we there mentally.”
After the Tigers had cut the Union County lead in half at 4-2, Hagerstown pinch-runner Clayton Barber scored on a wild pitch to cut the margin to 4-3.
“His aggressive slide, playing hard like that, scored the other run,” Catey said.
Barber’s effort at the plate forced an error that allowed Trent Weiss to race home from second to tie the game at 4-4.
“Our youth just showed its ugly face a little bit,” Union County Head Coach Jeff Mathews said. “We are going to be fine.”
However, it is an area that Mathews knows his team needs to improve upon as he compared it to his squad’s 11-10 loss earlier this week at Union City.
“We were up 7-1, playing well and then the bottom fell out,” Mathews said. “We have got to fix that.”
“Hagerstown is a very good team,” Mathews added. “If you make a mistake, they are going to take advantage.”
In the fifth, Hagerstown went on top 6-4. Hicks had a run-scoring double and Cody Wilson added a RBI single.
Wilson capped the contest for the Tigers as he knocked in the final two runs in the seventh with a single.
Hagerstown starter Sam Reagan worked four innings to earn the victory. He gave up six hits and had six strikeouts.
Trey Kelley picked up a save as he held the Patriots scoreless over the final three innings.
Mook Shepler started for the Patriots and left the mound with one out in the seventh. Mason Miller got the final two outs.
“Mook pitched a wonderful game,” Mathews said. “We hurt him in that fourth inning. He threw 25 extra pitches.”
Hicks led the Tigers with three hits.
“He works so hard,” Catey said. “He’s always hitting and wanting to do more.”
Hicks also made a critical defensive play in the bottom of the fifth as the Patriots were mounting a threat.
“They missed the cut off, I’ve got to send the guy,” Mathews said.
It was Hicks that ended up with the relay throw from the outfield and cut down the runner at the plate.
Wilson and Drew Pyle had two hits each for the Tigers.
Cameron Donovan and Blake Fields had two hits apiece to lead the Patriots.
Early Lead for Union County
The Patriots got out to a 3-0 advantage in the bottom of the first.
Miller had a two-run single for the Patriots and Donovan knocked in the next run with a single.
Fields made it 4-0 with a RBI single in the third.
Hagerstown (8-3, 4-0) visits Blackford Saturday for a doubleheader.
Union County (9-2, 2-2) entertains South Dearborn on Monday.