Franklinton and Salmen went down to the wire and the Demons pulled off a 7-6 District 8-4A home victory in eight innings, as a bases-loaded walk by Nate Bracey that plated J.P. Magee ended the game.
The teams were tied, 6-6, through seven innings, so the game went to extra innings. Salmen put two runners on in the top of the eighth, but a strikeout and Jalen Burkhalter started a 4-3 double play to end the threat.
In the bottom of the frame, Magee led off with a walk and went to second and third on a passed ball and wild pitch respectively.
Salmen intentionally walked Wyatt Verret, and after Verret stole second, Jared Jenkins was also intentionally walked to load the bases.
After an out, Bracey came up with the bases loaded and one out with the winning run on third. Bracey jumped ahead in the count 2-0, but the Spartans came back to 2-2. The count ran full and then Bracey drew RBI walk to force in Magee with the winning run.
“I saw straight fastballs,” Bracey said. “It was a rough game for us. The first inning, we had a little trouble, but we really pushed through that and you see we put up five in the bottom. After that, our pitching was really good. Our hitting slowed down a little bit, but we were still getting the hits. We didn’t make many errors.”
Franklinton coach Jeff Tageant said Bracey is a hard worker.
“He got a quality RBI there. It was a tough at bat. He took a few pitches and then he nailed the outside corner twice on pitches he shouldn’t have swung at, but it was a good at bat for him,” Tageant said.
Salmen jumped out to a 3-0 lead after a half of an inning. The Demons countered with five of their own to take a 5-3 lead. Salmen scored three runs in the top of the third to go up 6-5, but the Demons bounced right back and tied the game.
Burkhalter got hit and Ashton Corcoran singled to left. Both moved up and Burkhalter scored the tying run on an RBI groundout by Richard Berry.
Neither team scored until the eighth.
Jared Jenkins was solid on the mound for the Demons in middle relief. He picked up a no decision, but did a nice job of keeping the game tied.
Jenkins threw four shutout innings of one-hit ball with four strikeouts, four walks and a hit batter.
“Jared came in and did a great job, filled the strike zone up, had some quality pitches and as long as we throw strikes, we’re going to be OK,” Tageant said. We really emphasize strike one, strike one, first pitch strikes and lately, when we’ve played well, we’ve thrown a lot of first-pitch strikes.”
Verret relieved Jenkins and was solid as well. Verret was the winning pitcher. He threw 1-1/3 shutout innings of one-hit shutout ball. Verret struck out two and walked one.
Berry and Corcoran had two hits each.
Berry drove in a run and scored a run. Corcoran also drew a walk.
Magee, Jenkins and Burkhalter all posted one hit.
Magee walked and scored. Jenkins scored a run, walked, got hit and walked twice (one intentional). Burkhalter got hit, drove in a run and scored a run.
Verret got hit twice, was intentionally walked and scored a run. Trent Varnado walked twice and scored a run. Bracey walked twice, drove in two runs and scored a run.
The victory was the fourth in a row for the Demons.