Tuesday’s game was a cross-town rivalry as a part of the 2024 FHSAA Baseball District Tournament featuring the 20-3 Durant Cougars and the 16-8 Strawberry Crest Chargers. These teams faced off back on April 8 and Durant won a close one 3-2. Crest was coming off a district mercy rule win vs Ridge Community, as the Cougars put a 9-game winning streak on the line, not losing a single game in April.
Chase Mobley got the start on the mound for the Cougars and struck out the first two batters, Reuben Vasquez and Toby Highsmith. It was 3 up, 3 down for Mobley as Dillon Knight grounded out.
Landon Wood got the start at pitcher for the Chargers and Nick April-Gath was lead off for the Cougars, flying out to left field for the first out. Blaine Rowland grounded out to shortstop for the second out. Noah Morales got the hitting department started with a single past the shortstop. Mobley got hit by the pitcher, putting two on with two outs. Brantley Hayward opened the game up for the Cougars with a 3-run home run, clearing the bases. Tyler Macpherson flew out to left field to end the inning with the Cougars up 3-0.
Mobley was back on the mound and faced off against Chase Conti to start the inning. Mobley struck out Conti. Akhil Nimmala struck out in his first at bat as well, which made it Mobley’s fourth strikeout in five outs. Nico Cappucci got the Charger’s first hit of the game. On the first pitch, Matt Hall grounded in a force out, which sent it to the bottom of the second.
Jackson McClellan struck out in the bottom of the second by Landon Wood. Brady Kelly quickly got out in the infield for the second out bringing up Devin Suero. He got his first hit with a single past the third baseman. April-Gath was back up and got his first hit of the game with a single bouncing right over the third baseman. Rowland flew out to right field to end the inning.
In the top of the third, Mobley was back on the mound with a 3-0 Cougars lead. Saxon Shah led off for Crest and grounded out to the second baseman Brady Kelly. Lance Highsmith got out in the infield on the first pitch. Vasquez got on base for the first time in the game with a hard-hit single up the middle. Toby Highsmith grounded out to shortstop on the first pitch for a quick inning.
Noah Morales led off for the Cougars in the bottom of the third and he was looking for his second hit of the game but he was walked. After the walk, Wood was taken out of the game for Brisen Tweedy. The first batter he faced was Chase Mobley. Tweedy won the exchange, striking out Mobley. The next batter was Hayward. During his at bat, Morales stole second. Hayward was caught out and Morales was then out on the tag out, ending the inning on a double play.
Mobley was back out for the fourth and faced off against Knight. A single over third was a base hit for Knight. Conti struck out. Nimmala struck out for the second out and Mobley’s 6th strikeout of the game. Nico Cappucci was up with Knight on two outs. Knight stole third during Cappucci’s at bat. Cappucci was walked, which was Mobley’s first of the game. Cappucci stole second during Matt Hall’s at bat. During the at bat, a wild pitch by Mobley scored Knight for the Charger’s first run of the game, with Cappucci advancing to third. Hall was hit by pitch, putting two on and two outs with Shah up. During Shah’s at bat, Hall stole second. Mobley got his seventh strikeout of the game on Shah to leave the tying runners on base.
Tweedy stayed on the mound in the bottom of the fourth for Crest and started the inning against Tyler Macpherson. An error by Cappucci led to Macpherson getting on base. Jackson McClellan got to third on an error from Shah, scoring Macpherson in the process. Back-to-back errors by Crest’s infield led to Kelly being up. He grounded out to Cappucci for the first out of the inning. Suero also grounded out to Cappucci for the Cougar’s second out. Another Crest fielding error not only scored another Cougars run but got April-Gath to third. On a wild pitch by Tweedy, April-Gath scored during Rowland’s at bat. Rowland singled on a hard-hit ball through the infield. Noah Morales reached base safely but the base runner for Rowland, Nick Maurello, was out trying to sneak his way to third.
In the top of the fifth and Mobley is crushing, with seven strikeouts and one run allowed. Highsmith got the top of the fifth going for the Chargers with a single on Mobley’s first pitch thrown. During Vasquez’s at bat, Mobley balked, moving Lance Highsmith to second. Vasquez struck out for the first out of the inning, Mobley’s eighth of the game. Toby Highsmith grounded to shortstop and April-Gath chased down Lance Highsmith for the second out, with Toby Highsmith advancing to second. With two outs, Dillon Knight was up. During the at bat, Mobley had a wild pitch, advancing Highsmith to third. Mobley struck out Knight, his ninth of the game.
Tweedy was back on the mound for the bottom of the fifth, looking to rebound after allowing three runs in the fourth. Mobley led off for the Cougars this inning. Mobley singled and Dylan Hotz came in to run the bases for him. Hayward was next up and during his at bat, Hotz stole second. Hayward singled, putting runners on the corners with no outs. Before Macpherson’s at-bat, Tweedy was pulled for Brayden Dicerb. Macpherson grounded into a force-out, getting out his teammate on second, but Hotz scored. Tristan Brown got his first at-bat of the game in the bottom of the fifth and hit a ground ball, but an error on Crest infield kept both runners on with just one out. Brady Kelly struck out for the second out. Suero grounded out to Cappucci to end the inning.
Mobley was back out for the top of the 6th inning. He faced off against Conti for Crest and Conti struck out. Nimmala singled through the infield and that brought up Cappucci. He was hit by pitch from Mobley, which put two on with one out for Crest. Mobley was pulled for Jack Brooks. The first batter he faced was Matt Hall and he was walked, loading the bases with one out. Kaden Kuracka came in for Crest and hit a sacrifice fly, which scored the Charger’s first run since the fourth inning. Highsmith grounded out to a force-out, with the nice scoop and throw by April-Gath.
Dicerb was back out for the bottom of the sixth, starting with the top of the Cougars lineup and April-Gath grounded out Conti. Rowland popped up to Conti on his first pitch. Morales grounded out to Cappucci for a quick three up three down.
Brooks returned to the mound to try and close out the game. Vasquez grounded out to April-Gath for the first out. Toby Highsmith struck out. Knight singled to keep the game alive then stole second during Conti’s at bat. Conti grounded out to third base to end the game. The final score was 7-2.
Durant will play Newsome today, Thursday, May 2 for the District Championship at 7:00 p.m.