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The Lions held a 1-0 lead until the bottom of the fourth inning.
Landon Smith and Jackson Fricke walked with one out to start the
Hilltoppers rally in the bottom of the fourth inning. Mount
Pulaski tied the game when Chance Payne hit a line drive and
reached on an error, driving in Landon Smith with the first run.
Clay Aylesworth drove in the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly to
left field. After a walk to AJ Bailey, Lucas Kuhlman singled to
drive in Payne and the Hilltoppers were up 3-1.
A five-run fifth inning by the Hilltoppers put the game out of
reach for the Lions. Aylesworth’s bases-clearing double was the
big blow of the inning. Landon Smith added an RBI single and
Aylesworth scored the final run of the inning on a wild pitch.
Mount Pulaski had stretched the lead to 8-1 over the Lions.
LSA scored a run in the top of the sixth inning.
The Hilltoppers ended the game in the bottom of the sixth inning
by the 10-run rule. Liam Smith’s double drove in Evan Cooper and
Gavin Smith. After Landon Smith was hit by a pitch, Fricke
singled to center to send both Liam Smith and Landon Smith
across home plate.
The Hilltoppers advance to the regional championship on Saturday
with the 12-2 win over Decatur LSA.
Landon Smith earned the win for Mount Pulaski. Smith threw five
innings. He allowed one unearned run on two hits. He struck out
11 batters and walked three.
Gavin Smith pitched an inning in relief. He stuck out three
batters and walked one.
Landon Smith also racked up two hits on the day and scored three
times, while driving in one run.
Liam Smith, Jackson Fricke, Clay Aylesworth and Lucas Kuhlman
each had one hit.
Aylesworth led the Hilltoppers with four RBIs.
Mount Pulaski improves their record to 22-5.
Mount Pulaski will play the winner of the St. Thomas More/Argenta-Oreana
game on Saturday.
The regional championship game time is yet to be determined due
to graduation schedules of the above two schools.
[Teena Lowery] |
