Mountain Grove scored twice in the bottom of the seventh inning Thursday to rally past the Houston baseball team 5-4 in the State Farm Wood Bat Classic.

The loss spoiled a strong outing from freshman Alex Castleman, who struck out seven and walked two while throwing 54 of his 87 pitches for strikes. He gave up four hits and one earned run in five innings. 

SCHEDULE/RESULTS: Houston High School baseball 

Senior Nick Swanson took the loss with four hits and two earned runs in 1 1/3 innings.

After falling behind 3-0, the Tigers closed the gap on Ty McCloud’s two-out, two-run single in the third. Swanson’s RBI triple –– past a diving center fielder –– scored Castleman to tie it 3-3 in the fourth and HHS went ahead on a balk that plated Swanson three pitches later.

The game remained 4-3 until the bottom of the seventh. Mountain Grove (1-1) got a leadoff double and after an out, tied the game on a single and scored the game-winning run on another single.

Houston (2-2) got hits from McCloud, Castleman, Swanson, Sterling Jackson and Conner Wilson.

The Tigers close their tournament at 4 p.m. Friday against Licking.

BOX SCORE

Houston 002 200 0 – 4 5 1

Mtn. Grove 300 000 2 – 5 8 1

HOUSTON (ab-r-h-bi) – Gavin Alston ss 4-1-0-0. Ty McCloud cf 3-0-1-2. Sterling Jackson 1b 3-0-1-0. Alex Castleman p 3-1-1-0. Conner Wilson c 3-0-1-0. Nick Swanson lf 3-1-1-1. Cody Allen 2b 3-0-0-0. Braedin Groff 3b 2-1-0-0. Hunter Stilley rf 2-0-0-0. Totals 26-4-5-3.

3B: Swanson. SB: Alston, McCloud, Groff, Jacob Koch.

HOUSTON IP H R ER BB SO

Castleman 5 4 3 1 2 7

Swanson, L (0-1) 1.1 4 2 2 0 0