The Cougars made the long road trip to Mt. Carmel for its opening round game in the regional and came away with a 5-3 victory over the Fairfield Mules.

 

Tanner Bushue (5-3) went the distance in this one as he scattered nine hits and allowed three runs on four walks and ten strikeouts.

 

After the Mules scored a run in their opening at-bat, the Cougars responded in the 2nd by pushing across three runs to take the lead.

 

Lance Schneider led the inning off with a double to right-center and scored on a single by Jayme Michel. After a wild pitch moved Michel to 2nd and an infield pop-up for out number one, Shae Burton reached on a fielder's choice as Michel was gunned down trying to advance to third.

 

Zac Cain then drove in the second run on a long double to left and pinch-runner Luke Smith scored the third run when Wade Crain followed with yet another double, this one to left-center.

 

Fairfield got within one with another run in the fourth, but the Cougars got it back in their half of the inning when Michel scored on a wild pitch after leading off the frame with a double and advanacing to third on a long fly ball to left off the bat of Aaron Robb.

 

The Mules closed the gap again in the fifth with a single tallie, but again the Cougars responded. Wade Crain started things off with a walk, but was forced at 2nd on a grounder to short by Will Crain. Crain then advanced all the way to third on a pair of pass balls and scored the final run of the game on a sacrifice fly by Nick Simmons.

 

The Cougars now advance to the championship game on Saturday and will face the winner of the Mt. Carmel and Grayville contest at 1:00 PM.

Crain, Wa.....2 0 1  1 

Crain, Wi..... 3 1 0  0 

Simmons.....2 0 1  1 

Bushue.....3 0 0  0 

Schneider.....3 1 1  0 

Michel.....3 1 2  1 

Robb.....3 0 0  0 

Burton.....3 1 1  0 

Total.....24 5 7  4