Even if it was more than just a little ugly, the Harlan County Black Bears ran their district record to 3-0 on Monday with a 7-2 win at Harlan despite a six-error night.
“It was one of those district games where there is a little emotion, but we finally regained our composure and put some hits together,” Harlan County coach Scotty Bailey said after his Bears extended their win streak to four and record to 9-6.
Isaac Kelly and Jonah Swanner carried the HCHS offense with three singles each. Braydon Burton and Tristan Cooper added one each as Harlan’s Baylor Varner held his own against Cooper, the HCHS ace, for much of the night. Varner struck out seven and walked three before running out of pitches with two outs in the seventh. Aiden Johnson entered to record the final out.
“Varner pitched well and kept us off a balance a little,” Bailey said. “We just have to put the ball in play a little better. We have to do a better job of taking advantage of scoring opportunities. Isaac has been good all season, and Swanner has been slowly coming on and that is huge for us.”
Cooper wasn’t as overpowering as in past seasons but was still in control with 11 strikeouts and five walks while giving up only two hits. Chris Rouse and Jaedyn Gist had the two Harlan hits in the fifth inning to produce the Dragons’ second run. Harlan scored once in the fourth inning with the help of two walks and an error.
“We’re hitting the ball quite a bit better this year,” Harlan coach Lee Freyer said. “I think it was two years ago we had 18 strikeouts (against Cooper). We battled even though we had some guys out of position with (Donovan) Montanaro’s injury, but that’s not an excuse. We had too many errors tonight. Stuff like that with a young team isn’t unusual. I told them you have to get comfortable being uncomfortable. Tonight it looked like we were a little uncomfortable. The big take away for me is we didn’t strike out as much, and we get to play the same team tomorrow.”
It was the fifth win in six decisions for Cooper, a junior right-hander.
“Tristan threw a good game, but he is still walking a few. He’s a competitor though and we feel we can beat anyone with him on the mound,” Bailey said. “We made some mistakes behind him but then we also made good plays, especially (Brayden) Blakley with a throw in the hole at shortstop.”
Kelly opened the game with a sharp hit to center, and Cooper followed with a bunt single. Will Cassim’s grounder to short brought in Kelly with the first run.
Harlan County extended its lead to 4-0 in the fourth as Swanner opened with a hit and scored on Carter Howard;s ground out after moving to third on a steal and passed ball. Samuel Henson walked and Braydon Burton beat out a bunt single before Kelly drove in two runs with his second hit.
Harlan picked up single runs in the fourth and fifth innings before HCHS scored once in the sixth when Henson reached on an error and scored on a wild pitch. Howard reached on an error earlier in the inning but was cut down on a close play at the plate when he took off after Harlan catcher Brody Owens threw to Jake Brewer at short on a steal by Henson.
Cassim walked with two out in the seventh followed by a hit from Swanner before two runs scored on an error when Alex Creech’s fly ball was dropped.
Harlan fell to 8-8 overall and 1-2 in district action with the loss.
The rematch is set for Tuesday at HCHS.
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Harlan County 100 301 2 — 7. 8. 5
Harlan 000 110 0 — 2. 2. 3
Cooper and Kelly; Varner, Johnson (7) and Owens. WP — Cooper (5-1). LP — Varner (3-2).