Franklin County's Hayden Curl begins to move out of the box after connecting on a pitch during a game Wednesday against Shelbyville Central High School. Curl had two hits, four RBIs and a run scored in the 9-8 win.
Franklin County's Hayden Curl begins to move out of the box after connecting on a pitch during a game Wednesday against Shelbyville Central High School. Curl had two hits, four RBIs and a run scored in the 9-8 win.
The Franklin County Rebels beat the Shelbyville Central Golden Eagles 9-8 in eight innings on Wednesday for their second win of the season.
The Rebels rallied from a five-run deficit in the seventh inning to force an extra frame, and they scored the winning run in the following inning to finish the contest.
Franklin County head baseball coach Mike Crossland said his team still has some issues to work out on defense, but they still found a way to get a win by stringing together hits while on the edge of defeat.
“We’ve had two district games so far and our guys have continued to grind and fight,” Crossland said. “We just got it to the next guy. Getting it to the next guy is your mindset there. We did that.”
The game was scoreless until the top of the third inning when the Golden Eagles loaded the bases and brought all the runners home with a two-run double.
The Golden Eagles capitalized on errors by Franklin County in the fourth and fifth innings to add one more run each and make it a 5-0 game.
The Rebels got their first run in the bottom of the fifth off of an error on a ball hit by Isaiah Sisk. Hayden Curl came through with a two-out single later in the inning which plated another two runs to put the score at 5-3.
However, the Golden Eagles scored three more runs in the top of the seventh inning to make it a five-run game again.
The Rebels were on the brink of defeat with two outs in the bottom of the seventh while still facing a five-run deficit. However, they proceeded to have their next five batters reach base as they tied the game up before the frame ended.
The scoring got started by a two-run double from Curl for his third and fourth RBIs of the contest.
After a walk was issued to Kal Rigsby, Dylan Grimes found a gap for another RBI double to make it 8-6. The hit also put Rigsby at third base and Grimes at second representing the tying run.
Gavin Hill then followed that with yet another double to tie the score at 8-8. The Rebels would not win the game in the seventh, but their rally did force an extra inning to be played.
The Golden Eagles didn’t get any runners on in the eighth inning as Michael Stoltzfus retired the side with three straight strikeouts.
Sisk reached base on an infield single with one out in the bottom of the eighth and advanced to third after two passed balls. Sisk then scored on a wild pitch to clinch the walk-off victory for the Rebels.
With the win, the Rebels improved to 2-0 on the season.
They will next play Saturday at home against Pope John Paul II High School. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
