Off to a 4-5 start in the 2026 season, the Bell County Bobcats had yet to play like the team that advanced to the 13th Region Tournament semifinals a year ago.
A familiar opponent this week in their district opening series against Harlan County seemed to help the Bobcats find themselves. Bell followed a 12-2 victory on Monday at home with a 12-3 win Tuesday at HCHS.
The Bobcats collected 18 hits in the rout, led by pitcher Brayden Carroll with a double and three singles, only missing a five-for-five night due to a diving catch in center from Brayden Morris to close the sixth inning., Ty Mays and Holden Clark each added three singles. Mason Sziksai added a double and single. Blake Burnett and Dalton Black added two singles each. Cooper Brock had a double. Ayden Smith added a single.
“We had some good at bats this week. I was real happy with the way we swung it yesterday and today. We needed that after struggling the last game we played coming into this series,” Bell County coach Jeff Sziksai said. “I’m really happy with our at bats the last two days.”
Carroll earned the win as he gave up two runs on seven hits with 11 strikeouts and three walks in 4 2/3 innings. Alex Creech allowed one run on two hits with two strikeouts and no walks in 2 1/3 innings to close the game.
“We had a couple of long innings offensively, and I think Brayden wasn’t able to stay loose, but he was able to get it back and finish strong,” Sziksai said.
While the Bobcats were flawless defensively, Harlan County made life difficult for starting pitcher Jesse Gilbert with six errors and almost as many mental mistakes. The Bears failed to cover first base on a couple of occasions, giving away hits that allowed the game to get out of hand early with four runs in both the second and third innings. Center fielder Brayden Morris was a rare bright spot on defense with a diving catch to end the sixth inning and a strong throw to cut down a runner at the plate to end the seventh inning.
DaShaun Smith led the Bears on offense with two singles. Jackson Mackowiak had an RBI double. Kayden Hensley, Hayston Hensley, Brennan Blevins, Zayden Casolari, Gilbert and Carson Clark added one single each,
The 6-8 Bears, losers of four straight, play host to Harlan on Monday. The 6-5 Bobcats play Campbell County, Tenn., on Thursday.
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Bell County 144 300 2 — 14. 18. 0
Harlan County 001 020 0 — 3. 9. 5
Carroll, Creech (5) and Creech, Sziksai (5); Gilbert, Mills (3), Shepherd (4), Clark (6), Lloyd (7) and Smith. WP — Carroll. LP — Gilbert (0-1).
