After a 2-1 loss Monday at Mountain Grove, the Houston High School baseball team no longer has an unblemished record in South Central Association conference play.
The Tigers scored their only run of the contest in the top of the first inning when freshman Stryker Sloan led off with a walk, advanced to second on a groundout, took third on a passed ball and came home on a throwing error.
Houston had a golden opportunity to add more runs in the third frame, loading the bases with 1 out (on consecutive singles), but came away empty after a strikeout and a groundout.
The host Panthers evened the score in the bottom of the third with a pair of walks and an RBI single by junior Trace Harker. Mountain Grove took the lead in the fifth inning when freshman Kayne Meyer led off with a double, moved up a base on a balk and then scored on a wild pitch.
The Tigers had runners at second and third in the top of the seventh inning, but they were left stranded.
Both teams had only 4 hits in the game.
Freshman Tucker Venn started on the mound for Houston and worked 2 1/3 innings, allowing only 1 hit while striking out 6 and walking 3. Freshman Blake Sanders came in with 2 on and 1 out in the third frame and got out of the jam with a strikeout and a groundout. Sanders ended up tossing 3 2/3 innings, allowing 3 hits while fanning 7 and walking 1.
Junior Taylor Garner pitched 6 1/3 innings for Mountain Grove, allowing 4 hits, striking out 2 and walking 4. Freshman Collin Wake survived the Tigers’ late attempt to score and got the final 2 outs of the contest.
“This was a very frustrating game for us,” said HHS head coach Brent Hall. “We had our chances and couldn’t get a timely hit. We had some mistakes which cost us on some scoring opportunities. Tucker and Blake pitched very well and deserved to get the win. We are very close to putting all this together and games like this will go the other way if we just stay the course.”
Through Monday, Sloan led the squad in batting at .424, while Venn was at .400 and freshman Griffin Aaron was at .393. Jasper McCloy’s 3 RBIs against Salem and 1 against Alton raised his team-leading total to 14 on the season. Scantlin and Venn were next with 9.
This week, the Tigers (7-6, 3-1 SCA) are busy on the road, playing Tuesday at Norwood, Thursday at Thayer and Friday at Plato (weather permitting). On Monday, (April 20), Houston travels to Licking for a matchup with the county rival Wildcats (13-3), who are No. 2 in the latest Class 3 rankings.
Hall is approaching the 400-win mark for his career, as his record stood at 396-256 through Monday.
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