By Michael Lindsay
The York Institute Dragons earned a District 5-2A victory Tuesday evening as they defeated Jackson County in walk-off fashion, 5-4.
“Our guys fought hard and showed a lot of character,” said York head coach Adam Bowden. “It wasn’t pretty, but it’s a win and the second walk-off we’ve had in two weeks.”
York trailed 4-3 entering the bottom of the seventh inning. A Kaden Sutton leadoff double followed by an intentional walk of Brody Choate set the Dragons up with two runners on and cleanup hitter Sully Harris at the plate, who delivered a line-drive double to center to score two runs for the 5-4 win.
“Brody’s been swinging a good bat so I don’t blame them for the walk,” said Bowden. “We typically DH for Sully on days he’s been pitching, but he’s really been hitting the ball recently. We just let him swing away and he hit a missile to center.”
The Dragons out-hit Jackson County 12-1 as Harris went 3-4 with 2 RBIs. Garrison Garrett, Sutton and Choate recorded 2 hits each.
Jackson County struck first in the top of the second inning as Colt Loftis scored on a wild pitch to give the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead. York tied the game in the bottom of the third as a Choate double scored Garrett to knot the game at one run each.
A three-run top of the fourth from Jackson County saw Colby Mull reach home via a wild pitch followed by a two-run error with two outs to give Jackson County a 4-1 lead entering the bottom of the fourth.
“Our guys didn’t really wake up until those last few innings,” said Bowden. “Not to take anything away from Jackson County; they were out-playing us.”
York Institute found their rhythm in the bottom of the sixth as a two-out single from Garrett scored Landon Shoemaker and Matthew Luther, pulling the Dragons within a run at 4-3 entering the top of the seventh.
Sutton went to work on the mound in the top of the seventh as he kept the Blue Devils scoreless in the frame to set up the walk-off double by Harris in the bottom of the seventh.
“Kaden Sutton has done a great job as a sophomore,” said Bowden. “He throws a lot of strikes and I’m really proud of him.”
Up next is a rematch as York travels to Jackson County on Wednesday for game 2 beginning at 6 p.m.
