The Cougars escaped a round one matchup with Cisne when they came up with some late-inning heroics to defeat the Lions 6-4 in the semifinals of the Flora Regional.

 

With their bats as silent as a church mouse through four innings, the Cougars finally broke into the scoring column when they put three runs on the board in the bottom of the 5th.

 

Down 1-0 with one out, Blake Lane and Spencer Patton smacked back-to-back doubles to tie things up. After an intentional pass to James Gile and an infield pop-up by Tyler Mulvany for out number two, Nick Simmons rifled a single into left to load the bases.

 

Pinch hitter Tommy Daugherty then entered the game and promptly lofted a soft liner down the leftfield line that was misplayed by the Cisne defense for a two-run error to give the Cougars the lead.

 

After the Lions tacked on an unearned run in the sixth, the Cougar offense went back to work. Robert Slater led off the inning with a drag bunt single and after a pair of fly ball outs, Patton delivered again. This time he lofted and RBI triple to the base of the fence in right center and Slater scampered home from first.

 

Not to be outdone, James Gile followed that up with a monster blast that cleared

the 380 foot sign in center to put the Cougars up 6-2.

 

Starting pitcher Tanner Bushue worked 5 2/3 innings giving up two runs on six hits, five strikeouts, and one walk to run his record to 8-0 on the season.

 

He was relieved in the sixth with two outs and two runners in scoring position by Patton who quickly struck out the Lions' number nine hitter.

 

Despite giving up a two-run homer in the seventh, Patton got credit for the save when he eventually retired the Lions in their half of the inning.

 

With the win, the Cougars now find themselves in the championship game on Saturday against the winner of the Flora/Clay City game which will be played on Friday afternoon. Championship game time is 11:00 AM.

Crain, Wa.....4 0 0  0 

Lane.....2 1 1  0 

Patton.....4 2 2  2 

Gile.....3 2 1  2 

Mulvany.....3 0 1  0 

King.....2 0 0  0 

Slater.....3 1 1  0 

Daugherty.....1 0 0  0 

Burton.....1 0 0  0 

Total.....27 6 7  4 

 

WP-Bushue (8-0)

SC vs Cisne (Regional).....Won    6-4