Mustangs win Friday after extra innings
The Mustangs won a thriller Friday night against conference foes Southeast Alamance. The Stallions young team, consisting of only freshman and sophomore, came to Robbins looking to get a little revenge after North Moore defeated them 10-2 on Tuesday. The young stallions took the Mustangs to 10 full innings and a little over three hours of play.
“We couldn’t score a run. We had runners all over the bases all night and just could not score. I got us out at the plate, a runner thrown out at third and that’s all me, that’s 100% me. I’m trying to roll the dice and there were some hiccups along the way didn’t help," said Coach Kennedy. “My playbook to try to score runs, I emptied it tonight and was very unsuccessful and it took an error at the end of the game to get it done, but we’ll take it.”
The Stallions scored one run in top of the first, but that lead was short-lived. The Mustangs tied in the bottom of the first. Kennedy got things started with a line drive single to right field. Before Furr was walked, Patterson flew out. The Mustangs had two outs after Futrell went down swinging. Dalton Massey earned a RBI single after hitting a ground ball too short, sending Kennedy home. Furr was caught stealing home to end the inning.
The Mustangs took a 2-1 run lead in the third. Patterson got on base after being hit by the pitch. Perez walked and Futrell went down swinging. Massey walked, loading the bases. Nicols struck out looking, giving the Mustangs their second out. While Dyer was at the plate, Patterson scored on a wild pitch, and then Dyer was walked in seven pitches. The Mustangs left three stranded after Corfios struck out looking.
The Stallions scored in the top of the sixth, tieing the game. It was the 10th inning before anyone would cross the plate again. Dyer seen several balls come his way in left field. Stallions batter J. Sims hit a fly ball to Dyer and gets on after an error by Dyer. Piccini hit a fly ball to left field for a double, Dyer’s throw held Sims at 3rd. Coach Kennedy gave the ok for an intentional walk for A. Brown giving the Stallions loaded bases with no outs. A. Amick hit a sacrifice fly to Dyer giving the Stallions a 3-2 lead. T. Bowden was intentionally walked. P. Arpin hit a sacrifice fly to Will Kennedy in center field. Kennedy threw it to home to stop any more damage. With the Mustangs now trailing by two, they walk J. Rasko. Massey struck out J. Grant to retire the side.
With a conference game on the line, the Mustangs had some work to do. Kennedy came to the plate needing to start things off and he did just that with a deep fly ball off the right field wall for a double. Patterson recorded an RBI single hitting a line drive to center field and sending in Kennedy from second. Nicols was out after a fly ball to center. The Mustangs got their second out after Futrell went down swinging. Parson got on after being walked, loading the bases with two outs. Dyer came to the plate with two outs. With a count of 2-2, Dyer popped one up that bounced out of the first baseman’s glove. With two outs runners were moving. Patterson scored, Massey was halfway to home when the first baseman threw the ball to the plate. The throw was too late. Massey’s arms were across the plate when the catcher made the tag. The Mustangs won 5-4.
One of the offensive leaders for the Mustangs was Kennedy, who went 3-5 including two clutch doubles, had one walk and one strikeout. Massey also batted 3 for 5, contributing 1 of the team's 2 RBIs and receiving one walk. Patterson had the teams other RBI and went 2 for 4 and was also walked once. Parsons went 1 for 1 but got on with four walks. The team managed to get 10 hits out of 37 at-bats, drew 13 walks, and were struck out 16 times.
On the mound for the Mustangs was Parsons, who pitched six innings, giving up four hits, two runs, one was an earned run. He walked three batters and sat down five. Massey earned the winning pitching four innings, giving up only one hit, two runs, four walks, and he sat down nine batters.
The Mustangs are still ranked first in the 1A East with a 6-1 overall record and 3-1 in the conference.
They have scored ten or more runs the last four games, outscoring their opponents 77-19 so far this season. Large wins are always fun and exciting, but these games prepare a team for the playoffs. “Games like these build character down the road,” said Kennedy. “I think games like this build baseball IQ. Some of these situations the kids were in tonight. They’ve never been there before. Three or four have, but these guys just haven’t been there, so the nerves. We’re still trying to figure out how to keep the emotions in check. Games like this help us.”
They will host Jordan Mathews Tuesday at 7 p.m. for a conference game.
Written, photos, and video by Curtis Self
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