A solid mound performance by sophomore Brayden Carroll and timely Bell County hitting lifted the Bobcats to a 7-1 52nd District win Tuesday over visiting Harlan.
After snapping the Green Dragons’ seven-game winning streak Monday, the Bobcats recorded their sixth straight district win of the season to secure the No. 1 seed in the 52nd District Tournament.
“It’s always nice to get a district win against a quality club,” Bell County coach Jeff Sziksai said. “The game always begins and ends on the mound, and Brayden Carroll was fantastic. He really filled up the zone and gave us a great chance. It started right there.”
Carroll did not yield a run against the Green Dragons. He surrendered six hits, walked four batters and struck out nine others.
Bell County (11-6) assumed early command of the game by scoring two runs in its half of the first inning. Senior Holden Clark led off with a single and scored on a double by classmate Cooper Brock. Three batters later, senior Blake Burnett’s single scored Brock.
The Bobcats scored three times in the third inning. The Bobcats loaded the bases with no outs, before a ground ball by junior Alex Creech scored Carroll. Freshman Mason Sziksai’s single scored sophomore Ty Mays and a bases-loaded walk plated Burnett to make it 5-0.
A run-scoring single in the fifth by Clark made it 6-0 and the third hit of the game by Sziksai plated Burnett with the Bobcats’ final run with two outs in the sixth frame.
“I thought we came out, offensively, and got off to a really great start,” Jeff Sziksai said. “I think our situational hitting needed to be better, but we were able to do enough, offensively, with Brayden’s performance. Mason Sziksai had a nice night at the plate and we had some good, two-out hitting.”
In addition to his three hits, Sziksai also stole three bases. Clark collected a pair of hits for the Bobcats, while Burnett and Dalton Black each had hits. Bell County swiped 12 bases as a team.
Creech spelled Carroll on the mound in the seventh inning, and Harlan sophomore Jaxson Perry scored the Green Dragons’ lone run on a balk by Creech with two outs in the frame.
Junior Eli Freyer swatted a pair of doubles and recorded three hits to lead Harlan, while senior Baylor Varner collected a pair of singles. Harlan also got hits from Brody Owens and Harlan Marietta
Owens worked into the fifth inning and was tagged with the loss. He yielded five earned runs, six hits, walked seven batters and struck out four others. Junior Braxton Bowen pitched the final 1.1 innings for the Green Dragons, surrendering an earned run, a hit and a walk.
Next up for Bell County is a road game Friday at Leslie County. Harlan (12-9) hosts Lee, Va., Thursday and Barbourville Friday.
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Harlan 0000001 – 1.7.1
Bell County 203011x – 7.7.0
Owens, Bowen (5) and Shelton; Carroll, Creech (7) and Creech, Sziksai (7). WP – Carroll. LP – Owens (0-3).
