A cross-town rivalry game was held Tuesday between the 10-6 Durant Cougars and the 11-9 Plant City Raiders.
On the very first pitch of the game, the Cougars lead-off hitter, Brantley Hayward, doubled with a deep shot to right field. The following Cougars batter, Shawn Graves, singled and Hayward stayed at second. Jack Brooks popped up foul for the first out. Tristan Macpherson was up next in the cleanup spot for the Cougars, and was walked on a full count, loading the basis with Brody Lissy up. During Lissy’s at-bat, they picked off Macpherson at first for the second out. Hagen Smith struck out Lissy to leave two runners on base and escaped with no runs allowed.
Owen Franklin drew the start for the Cougars and went against Sal Jaramillo, who popped out to right field for the first out. Drew Cothren was up next and was hit by pitch. Alex Rodriguez hit a fly to center field for the second out. Jake Carbaugh was up next and popped out foul to end the inning 0-0.
Jackson McClellan led off for the Cougars in the top of the second and doubled with a nice shot to left field. Caleb Lambert was up next and was out on the sacrifice bunt, but the runner on second advanced to third. Cooper Hughes was up next and popped out to Carbaugh at third for the second out of the game. Brady Kelley was up next, and RBI doubled to left field to score the first run of the game for the Cougars. Hayward was back up and was walked, making it two runners on with two outs, and Graves was up. Graves popped out to leave two more Cougars on base.
Max Cieslo led off in the bottom of the second for the Raiders and flew out to the right field to the warning tracks. Tyler Black was up next for the Raiders and grounded out to the second baseman for the second out. Paul Overstreet was the next man up for the Raiders and he grounded out to third base to end the inning with the Cougars up 1-0.
Jack Brooks led off in the third for the Cougars and was struck out by Hagen Smith. Tristan Macpherson was walked, putting one runner on with Lissy up next. After two wild pitches, the runner from first got to third. Then Lissy RBI singled to right field to extend the Cougars lead to 2-0. McClellan was up next and grounded out to third for the second out. Another wild pitch put Lissy on third. Caleb Lambert was up with two outs and a runner on third and Lambert grounded out to send it to the bottom of third.
Merrick Smith popped out foul for a quick first out for the Raiders. Brenham Hay then flew out to left field for the second out. Jaramillo was up next with two outs and doubled with a hard-hit ball past the third baseman. Cothren was up next with a runner in scoring position and popped out foul to end the inning with the Cougars up 2-0.
Hughes led off in the fourth for the Cougars and was struck out for Hagen Smith’s third strikeout of the game. Kelley was up next for the Cougars and drew a walk on a full count. Kelley took second on a balk. Hayward was back up for his third at-bat of the game. He was walked, putting runners on the corners with one out. Paul Overstreet threw out Hayward at second for the second out. Graves was up with two outs for the Cougars and popped out to center field to send it to the bottom of the 4th.
Rodriguez led off in the bottom of the fourth for the Raiders and grounded out to second. Carbaugh was up next and was the second out of the inning. Cieslo was up next and singled with a hard-hit ball through the right infield. Tyler Black was up next with two outs for the Raiders, and the Cougars pitcher balked, advancing Cieslo to second. Black was walked, and that put two on with Overstreet up. He flew out to right field to end the fourth inning with the Cougars up 2-0.
Brooks led off in the top of the fifth inning and singled with a nicely hit ball to left field. Tristan Macpherson was up next, but before that, Hunter Carbaugh came into the game for the Raiders to take over for Hagen Smith. Macpherson grounded out to first, and Brooks advanced to second. Lissy was up next for the Cougars and was walked, putting two on with McClellan up. Carbaugh struck out McClellan for a big second out. Caleb Lambert was up next with two on for the Cougars and RBI tripled to right field to extend the lead to 4-0. Dylan Karnowski came in as a pinch hitter for Cooper Hughes. Karnowski was hit by pitch, making it runners on the corners with two outs and Kelley was up. He flew out to right field to bring it to the bottom of the fifth.
Merrick Smith led off in the bottom of the fifth for the Raiders and flew out to the third baseman for the first out of the inning. Brenham Hay flew out to right field for the second out. Jaramillo was up next for his third at-bat of the game and struck out to end the fifth inning with the Cougars up 4-0.
Hayward led off for the Cougars in the top of the sixth and flew out to right field for the first out of the inning. Jacob Purcell came in to pinch-hit for the Cougars and replaced Shawn Graves. Hay made a great play at second to get Purcell out at first for the second out. Brooks flew out on the first pitch of his at-bat to center field for a quick three outs for Hunter Carbaugh and the Raiders.
Cothren singled as the lead-off hitter for the Raiders in the bottom of the sixth. Rodriguez singled on a hard-hit ball to the outfield, putting runners on the corners with no outs. Jake Carbaugh was up next for the Raiders and popped out foul for the first out of the inning. Cieslo was up next and hit a sacrifice fly to center field, and the Raiders tagged up on third and scored their first run of the game. Tyler Black was up with two outs and a runner on first and hit a hard-hit ball to center field. That brought up Overstreet with two on and two outs for the Raiders. Overstreet hit a fly to center field to end the inning with the Cougars up 4-1.
Tristan Macpherson led off the top of the seventh for the Cougars and singled to right field. After Lissy was walked, Hunter Carbaugh was pulled and Merrick Smith entered the game to pitch for the Raiders. Smith’s first batter faced was McClellan with no outs. Merrick struck out McClellan for the first out of the inning. Lambert was up next, and during his at-bat, both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Lambert flew out to center field and both runners stayed for the Cougars. Karnowski was up with two outs for the Cougars and flew out to left field to send it to the bottom of the seventh.
Merrick Smith led off for the Raiders in the bottom of the seventh with the Raiders down three runs. Smith grounded out to second base for the first out. Hay was up next for the Raiders and struck out. With two outs, the leadoff hitter, Jaramillo, was up to try and keep the Raiders in the game. Jaramillo drew a walk, bringing Drew Cothren up. Cothren popped out to first base to end the game. The Cougars won 4-1 with pitcher Owen Franklin pitching a complete game.
