On Saturday, the PHS Dragons varsity baseball team hosted three teams for a set of afternoon ball games as they welcomed the Murray County Indians, & the Newton Rams to Dragons Field. Each team would get a chance to play each other & the two teams to kick the day off would be Murray County, & your Dragons.

 

Caswell Smith got the call in game one for the Dragons and he pitched very well against the Indians. In the top of the 1st, Smith sat down 2 Indians via strikeout as we would go to the bottom of the inning. Pickens, would get a single & 2 walks in consecutive at bats, but would leave the bases loaded as we would head to the 2nd, still tied at 0. In the top of the 2nd, Smith worked out of trouble by again striking out 2 Indians to send us to the bottom of the frame. Travis Huffman drove in Brady Moore with an RBI triple, then came in to score himself after an errant throw to 3rd to give the Dragons a 2-0 lead going to the 3rd.

 

In the 3rd, Smith needed only ten pitches & collected 2 more strike outs to bring his total to 6 through 3 innings. Pickens, would go quietly in the bottom of the 3rd as we headed to the 4th with the Dragons still leading Murray County, 2-0. Smith continued his impressive start in the 4th with another 2 strikeout inning, bringing his total up to 8 for the game. The Dragons left 2 stranded in the bottom half of the 4th and we’d go to the 5th with Pickens still leading the Indians, 2-0.

 

Smith’s last inning was the top of the 5th and he finished it off by not giving up anything to Murray County. In the bottom of the inning, Will Lawrence brought in pitch runner Isaiah Payne to stretch the Dragons lead to 3-0 going to the top of the 6th. In the top of the 6th, the Indians plated a run on 3 hits to cut the Pickens lead to 3-1. In the bottom of the frame, Dalton Presley added some insurance runs as he drove in T. Huffman & Joseph Gossett to make it 5-1 Dragons going to the 7th. In the top of the 7th, the Dragons used a combination of Jace Franklin, Andrew Hasbrouck, & Brady Moore to get the Indians out and seal the win for Pickens, 5-1.

 

Caswell Smith: 5 IP, 3H 8K, 0ER on 73 pitches

Jace Franklin: 1 1/3IP, 1K 1R on 28 pitches, & 1-1 with a single

Andrew Hasbrouck: 1/3IP 0R on 2 pitches

Brady Moore: 1/3IP 0R 1K on 5 pitches, & 1-1 with a run scored

Travis Huffman: 2-4 with 1 single, 1 triple, 1 RBI, & 2 runs scored

Joseph Gossett: 2-4 with 2 singles & 1 run scored

Dalton Presley: 1-2 with 1 single, 2 walks, & 2 RBI

Dominic Stephens: 1-2 with a single & 1 walk

Will Lawrence: 1-3 with 1 RBI

Wyatt Gooch: 1-2 with a single

Dylan Huffman: 1-3 with a single

Isaiah Payne: 1 run scored