The Macon County Tigers advanced in the winners’ bracket of the District 7/AAA baseball tournament on Thursday night in a 5-0 victory over Cumberland County in Lafayette.
MCHS ace Jacob Hunt pitched a complete game shutout as the Tigers won their third game against the Jets this season.
“We played pretty well,” said MCHS head coach Jason Hudson. “Hunt pitched great. Any time he’s on the mound we feel like we’ve got a pretty good chance of winning. Offensively, (CCHS)’s pitcher was pretty good. He kept us off balance but we did just enough to pull it out.”
Hunt and CCHS starter Eli Ostrander each started the game strong with two straight scoreless innings.
Two singles by the Tigers followed by an RBI single by Kaden Woodard gave MCHS a 1-0 lead after three frames. The Tigers took control of the game in the fifth inning, after a leadoff walk by Braxton Lloyd and a CCHS error Woodard struck again on a double to right field. Ely Malo and Matthew Wheeley each added singles as the Tigers stretched the lead to 5-0.
Hunt then finished off a dominant performance by only allowing one more baserunner as the Tigers secured the victory.
Ostrander pitched five innings for the Jets, allowing five runs, three earned, on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Ryder Meyers pitched the final inning allowing no hits with one strikeout.
Hunt earned his fifth win of the season in the shutout. He allowed just three hits and one walk with 11 strikeouts.
“We want to stay on the winners’ side as long as we can,” said Hudson on his decision to pitch his top arm in the first game of the tournament. “There’s no guarantee we would even win this game. All of us in the district are fairly close so we can’t overlook anyone. We’ve got to throw our best when we can.”
The Jets will face DeKalb County on Saturday in Baxter in an elimination game, first pitch time is TBD.
The Tigers will take on Upperman on Friday at 3 p.m. in a quarterfinal matchup. The game will be streamed live on the UCR Facebook page.
“We have to play a complete ballgame,” said Hudson. “We don’t know who they’re going to throw against us, but no matter who it is they’re going to throw strikes and be a good pitcher. Try to battle at the plate and just go out and compete. We kind of have nothing to lose.”
