Cougars Edge Casey-Westfield;
Take Tourney Crown at Benton
It was an exciting weekend of baseball for the Cougars as they upped their record to 10-3 by nipping Casey-Westfield
at home on Friday and sweeping a pair of victories to win the Benton Tournment on Saturday.
On Friday, Louis Daugherty made winners out of the Cougars with a two-out, 3-run homer in the bottom of the
seventh and Nick Simmons notched his first victory by going the distance in a 4-3 win over Casey-Westfield.
The Cougars picked up a run in the first inning, but failed to capitalize on several scoring opportunities
until the seventh. That run came courtesy of consecutive singles from Spencer Patton, Trey Garrett, and Nathan Lotz.
In the fatefull seventh, Miles Yates started things off with a single and after Patton flied out for the first
out, Garrett grounded into a fielder's choice, forcing Yates at second.
Lotz then laced a two-strike pitch to right for his second single and with runners now at first and second,
the stage was set for Daugherty's heroics.
After fouling a pitch off for strike one, he deposited the next offering deep over the left field fence and
the celebration was on.
On Saturday, the Cougars traveled to Benton to participate in their annual spring tournament and came away
with a 2-1 win over Benton in game one and an 8-4 victory over Eldorado in game two.
Cougar starter Trey Garrett picked up his fifth win without a defeat, allowing the lone run on 3 hits, 4 strikeouts,
and 4 walks.
The bats were pretty silent in this one as Benton's starting lefty kept the Cougars off stride for much of
the game.
They did manage a run in the first on a Nathan Lotz RBI single and another in the fourth when Nick Simmons
blooped and RBI single to right-center, but as it turned out, that's all they would need.
Garrett's pitching and the tough Cougar defense held Benton to single run and it was on to game two to battle
the Eagles.
The Cougars quickly jumped on Eldorado by scoring 3 runs in the first as Yates cracked a solo homer to
get things started. Patton, Garrett, and Lotz(RBI) would all then single and courtesy runner Robert Slater scored from third
on a wild pitch to make it 3-0.
In the second, three more runs would cross the plate on walks to Yates and Patton, an RBI double from Lotz,
and a 2 RBI single from Daugherty.
Patton would add an RBI single in the third and Blake Lane did the same in the fourth to close out the scoring.
Patton pitched 6 2/3 of an inning to notch his second win of the season, allowing all 4 runs on 4 hits, 8
strikeouts, and 4 walks. Tyler Mulvany relieved him in the seventh and struckout the only batter he saw to end the game.
The Cougars return to action on Monday when they travel to Vandalia to battle the Vandals at 4:30 P.M.
