Late-inning strikes power Patton past Polk County
Published 12:52 pm Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Patton’s offense roared to life Tuesday in the late innings, enabling the Panthers to pull away for an 11-5 win over Polk County in a chilly, windy evening at The Bottoms.
The Wolverines fell to 4-8 overall, 0-5 in Mountain Foothills 7 Conference play. Patton upped its record to 4-5, 1-2.
How it happened: The teams battled on even terms for four innings, with Patton inching ahead for a 2-1 lead.
But the Panthers scored five runs in the fifth and four more in the sixth to grab an 11-1 advantage. Three walks and two errors aided Patton’s fifth-inning rally, and the Panthers had just one hit in the sixth.
Polk County answered with a run in the sixth as Alex Tipton walked and scored on Lawson Carter’s double. The Wolverines then plated three runs in the seventh, all with two outs, starting with Alex Perry’s single to drive in Noah Harden, who had singled to open the inning.
Gunnar Alm reached second on an error, and Tipton followed with a single to center that scored Perry and Alm.
At the plate: Carter finished 3-for-4 to lead Polk County, which also got base hits from Tipton, Avery Hensley, Harden, Mason Beiler and Perry.
On the mound: Cohen Edwards took the loss, pitching 3 1/3 innings and giving up two runs on six hits. Angus Weaver pitched 1 2/3 innings, Alm pitched 1/3 of an inning and Carter closed with 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.
Next up: The two teams will meet again on Thursday at Patton, the game set to start around 6:30 p.m.