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By Jim Steele
steele@mckenziebanner.com |
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It was a hot and cold week for the McKenzie Rebel baseball
team.Last Tuesday, the Rebs evened their District 11AA mark
after bowing to Milan 6-2. Then, on Thursday and Friday,
MHS went 1-2 in the Milan Physical Therapy Classic.
McKenzie could easily have been 2-1 or 3-0 in the event. The Rebels suffered a bad break on a controversial call in
the first tourney game against Martin-Westview as the
Chargers rallied for the win Thursday. On Friday, the Rebs
emptied the clip against Henry County in a 19-2 victory,
but was eliminated from the tournament after a 7-6
extra-inning loss to last year's Kentucky baseball
runner-up Murray High. "That's baseball," said McKenzie coach Josh Kee. "With a
break or two here or there, we could have won the
championship." The Rebels are 7-6 presently, 2-2 in the district, but Kee
isn't disappointed with the effort. "We played hard and we're hitting the ball pretty well,"
he said. "This was an opportunity for us to face good
competition and get us ready for the tournament."
McKenzie 19
Henry Co. 02
Matt Jones had eight RBI on a 2-5 night as the Rebel
carousel kept going round and round against the Class 3A
Patriots. "Jones was impressive," said Kee. "He hit the ball well
all day and has been doing a pretty consistent job of
picking up big hits." Freshman Drew Hayes was 3-4 with 2 RBI while Demerick
Diggs was 2-4 with three RBI. Jay Taylor was 2-4 with an
RBI. John French was 0-2 with an RBI, Brian Winston was
1-2 with an RBI, Jake Smith was 1-4 with an RBI, Mark
Ghyers was 1-2 with an RBI and Daniel Hollowell was 0-2,
but drove in a pair of runs. Winston earned the complete game victory, though the game
was abbreviated by the 10-run rule. In five innings, he
gave up three hits, two walks and struck out two.
Murray, Ky. 7
McKenzie 6
A pretty good hitting Murray team scored five runs in the
first inning, but cooled off as the Rebels rallied for six
runs to take a lead. The Tigers, however, were able to tie the game and push
the game-winner across in the eighth, excusing McKenzie
from further play in the Milan tournament. Taylor was 2-4 with four RBI, including a two-run homer.
Hayes was 2-4 with two RBI and a home run. Winston had two
hits while French and Ghyers had a hit apiece.
Martin 11
McKenzie 09
Controversy marred McKenzie's bid for a third-straight
victory over Martin-Westview in opening-night play at
Milan. McKenzie was attempting to field the ball in the late
innings when a baserunner seemingly was struck by the
batted ball. If the ball hits the runner in front of the
fielder, the runner is out. If it hits the runner after it
has passed the fielder, the runner is not out. The umpire
ruled that the ball did not hit the runner as he passed in
front of shortstop Drew Hayes. The play led to a run
instead of retiring the side. "I told the umpire that he (Hayes) isn't going to miss a
fungo hit right to him," said Kee. "It had to have hit the
runner." Martin got a run out of the play and the controversy
deflated the Rebels as the Chargers surged ahead to win. The loss spoiled what was a fast start by the hot-hitting
Rebels. McKenzie scored five runs in the first inning.
Matt Jones led off with a double and scored on Taylor's
two-bagger. Winston cracked an RBI single, then Hayes
reached on a single when Diggs decided to do a little yard
work. He launched a three-run shot. In the second frame, Daniel Hollowell reached on an error,
Jones singled, French reached on a fielder's choice and
Taylor added a sacrifice fly RBI for the 6-0 lead.
In the fifth, Diggs doubled and scored on Hollowell's
single.
Matt Jones was 3-4, Taylor was 2-3 with two RBI, Diggs was
2-4 with three RBI, Hollowell was 1-2 with an RBI, Winston
had a hit and an RBI. French was 1-4.
Milan 6
McKenzie 2
Sometimes teams just hit a wall. That was the case with
the Rebels who had a day full of slumps against the
Bulldogs in district play.
The loss squared McKenzie's district mark at 2-2.
Diggs hit a solo homer in the third and Taylor scored on
Winston's single in the fourth for the lone McKenzie runs.
Taylor was 2-2 while Winston, Smith, Hayes and Diggs each
had a hit. |
