Stetson Welch’s ninth-inning hit propelled his team to victory and kept his undefeated record on the mound intact.
The Houston senior singled to right field with two outs last Thursday to lift the Tigers to a 5-4 extra-innings victory against Salem.
“That was a huge win –– not just beating a good team but because of the circumstances,” Houston coach Brent Hall said. “We’ve had a ton of games lately and had a couple kids that left the team, so it was good to see everyone come together.”
Along with lifting his team to its third conference victory, Stetson Welch also remained unbeaten on the mound. He scattered eight hits and gave up one earned run in the complete-game victory to improve to 5-0.
Stetson Welch has five of his team’s eight victories and a 1.21 ERA.
“If you watch him pitch, you don’t know how he does it,” Hall said. “His recipe is just throwing strikes, location and keeping them off-balance.”
Two days earlier, senior Nathan Poynter struck out 13 batters as he led the Tigers to a 4-1 home win against Willow Springs.
Poynter and Kyle Wilson had two hits apiece for HHS.
On Monday, Houston was no-hit in an 11-0 five-inning loss at Mountain Grove.
BOX SCORES
Monday’s game
Houston 000 00 –– 0 0 5
Mtn. Grove 412 4x –– 11 8 0
HOUSTON (ab-r-h-bi) –– Whitley Welch c 1-0-0-0. Nathan Poynter ss 1-0-0-0. Stetson Welch 3b 1-0-0-0. Kyle Wilson lf 2-0-0-0. Cameron Root 1b 1-0-0-0. Tanner Carter ph 1-0-0-0. Tyler Burris 2b 2-0-0-0. Ross Wells dh 1-0-0-0. Trevor Motzkus p 2-0-0-0. Gaven Alston rf 2-0-0-0. Totals 14-0-0-0.
houston ip h r er bb so
Motzkus, L 3 7 9 7 2 3
Poynter 1 1 2 0 0 1
Last Thursday’s game
Salem 101 000 200 –– 4 8 2
Houston 010 300 001 –– 5 8 3
HOUSTON (ab-r-h-bi) –– Whitley Welch c 4-0-0-0. Nathan Poynter ss 5-0-2-0. Stetson Welch p 5-1-1-1. Kyle Wilson lf 3-2-2-0. Cameron Root 1b 4-0-1-0. Tyler Burris 2b 4-1-2-3. Trevor Motzkus cf 4-0-0-1. Josh Hurst 3b 4-0-0-0. Gaven Alston rf 3-1-0-0. Totals 36-5-8-5.
2B: Burris.
houston ip h r er bb so
SWelch, W 9 8 4 1 4 6
Last Tuesday’s game
Willow 000 100 0 –– 1 3 1
Houston 022 000 x –– 4 6 2
HOUSTON (ab-r-h-bi) –– Whitley Welch c 3-1-1-1. Nathan Poynter p 4-0-2-1. Stetson Welch 3b 3-0-0-0. Kyle Wilson lf 2-0-2-0. Ross Wells dh 3-0-0-0. Tyler Burris 2b 2-2-0-0. Tanner Carter 1b 2-2-0-0. Trevor Motzkus cf 2-0-1-1. Matt Knarr rf 2-0-0-0. Totals 23-4-6-3
SF: WWelch. SB: Poynter 2, Burris, Motzkus. CS: Burris.
houston ip h r er bb so
Poynter, W 7 3 1 0 5 13
- Thursday at Thayer, 4:30 p.m.
- Monday at Liberty, 4:30 p.m.
- Tuesday vs. Summersville, 4:30 p.m.