Hopkinsville led Madisonville-North Hopkins for five-plus innings on Monday only to see the Maroons answer back to forge a tie in the sixth.
However, the Tigers plated five runs in the seventh inning on a double and two singles to beat the Maroons 9-4 – Hoptown’s fifth straight win over Madisonville.
The win improved Hopkinsville’s record to 15-3 and was their ninth win in ten games.
After Chase Fort and Layton Lindsey reached base in the top of the seventh, J.J. Thompson loaded the bases with an infield hit – part of a three-hit night.
Dylan Sweeney singled to left field to plate two, and Gavin Powell roped a two-run double to the left-center gap to extend the Hoptown lead to 8-4. Gavin Mitchell followed with a bad-hop single to score Powell.
Sweeney had a pair of hits and drove in four runs, while Mitchell had three RBI.
First-year Hoptown coach Malcolm Tipler liked how his team had an answer for every Madisonville rally.
“That’s the biggest thing – their competitive factor like we teach every day. You’ve got to compete. It’s a long game, but baseball is hard enough, so when it’s going bad, you still got to stay in it and compete,” he said.
Hopkinsville had its chances throughout the game to race out to a lead but couldn’t get a timely hit. The Tigers left 12 runners on base including the bases loaded twice.
Hoptown broke through with a three-run third inning. Lindsey was hit by a pitch, Thompson walked, and Zach Moss reached on an error. Sweeney followed with a two-run single. A bases-loaded walk to Mitchell added the third run.
Madisonville got a run back in the third on two singles and a fielder’s choice. The Maroons added an unearned run in the fifth to get to within 3-2.
Hoptown added another run in the sixth with Mitchell’s second bases-loaded walk – one of 11 free passes issued by Maroon pitchers.
Briar Gossett’s two-out, two-run double scored Louie Ampry and Tomas Olvera to knot the game at 4-4. Olvera had two hits and scored twice for Madisonville, who dropped to 9-12.
Mitchell went the first five innings on the bump, striking out four and giving up just one earned run.
Powell struck out the first two batters in the sixth before running into some trouble.
Andrew Mayes pitched a scoreless seventh inning with two strikeouts although he didn’t qualify for the save. Powell improved his record to 4-0 with the win.
Hopkinsville returns home Thursday for a Senior Night battle with West Creek High of Clarksville. Tipler, like most baseball coaches in western Kentucky, is just hoping for a consistent stretch of weather with a month left in the regular season.
“Hopefully, it’ll start warming up soon so we can stop wearing hoodies and get a rhythm going, I think it’s like every two days, we’re looking at the weather and rain, so we need to get these games in and try to get some reps going,” he said.
