Cougars Claim MTC Crown
With Pair of Conference Wins
The Cougars wrapped up another regular season conference championship with wins over Odin and Sandoval this
past week.
They also dealt NTC conference rival Effingham St. Anthony their second loss of the season with a wild 8-4
victory on Wednesday night.
On Tuesday, Tanner Bushue racked up 15 strikeouts in seven innings of work and the Cougar hitters banged
out ten hits in a 6-4 conference win over the visiting Odin Eagles.
Bushue struck out eleven of the first twelve hitters he faced and although he had a short battle with wildness
in the fifth, he took a 6-3 lead through six innings before giving way to Will Crain in the seventh.
After Crain loaded the bases with a pair of walks and a single, Bushue was summoned to the mound again and
he responded with another strikeout and two routine ground outs to put the game away.
Leading the way offensively was Shae Burton, Will Crain, and Devin Hall with two safeties apiece.
On Wednesday, the Cougar defense committed six errors and was held hitless through five innings before they erupted
for eight runs in the sixth to knock-off the Effingham St. Anthony Bulldogs by a score of 8-4.
Until the big uprising, the Cougars did about everything wrong they could manage to do and if not for the
Bulldog's inability to get a big hit with runners in scoring position, they could have very easily found themselves down by
more than a 4-0 margin after five.
But the Cougars did respond and they did it in a big way. Jayme Michel got things going with a lead-off walk
before Wade Crain made the first out on a pop-up to second.
Simmons followed with another base-on-balls and Shae Burton singled to load the bases. The Bulldogs had a
chance to end the game with a double play on a grounder to second off the bat of Aaron Robb, but the second baseman muffed
the play for an error and the first run scored.
Tanner Bushue then delivered a two-run single to pull the Cougars within one at 4-3 before Will Crain grounded
into a fielder's choice for out number two.
With Robb now at third, Crain stole second to set the stage for Devin Hall who then cracked a two-strike
offering for a line drive single to left to give the Cougars a 5-4 lead.
The Cougars went on to score three more runs in the inning, highlighted by run-scoring doubles from Zac
Cain and Nick Simmons and an RBI single from Wade Crain.
Simmons got the win in relief of starting pitcher Marcus Hicks who lasted 3 2/3 of and inning.
On Thursday, the Cougars wrapped up the MTC conference regular season crown with a convincing 12-2 five-inning
thrashing of the Sandoval Blackhawks
Will Crain picked-up his second win of the season by pitching all five innings and four Cougar players rapped
two hits apiece to lead the offensive charge.
The Cougars traveled to North Clay on Friday, but were rained out in the second inning holding a 2-0 lead.
The game will be replayed on Monday and is scheduled to start at 4:30 PM.
