Tie-breakers give high-scoring tourney to Louisburg

Fort Scott High's three-team baseball tournament at Dave Regan Stadium Saturday had to be decided by tie-breakers after each team went 1-1.

Louisburg routed Fort Scott in the first game of the day, 13-2, but fell to Ottawa in the second game, 10-4. The Cyclones could have won the tournament if they had beaten Fort Scott in the final game of the day or, worst-case scenario, lost by any score while allowing just 7 runs.

The Tigers (3-3), determined to redeem themselves for their performance in the opener, scored 7 times in the bottom of the sixth inning alone, then held off a Cyclone rally in the top of the seventh to win 12-10.

Fort Scott finished third since it was the only team to allow double-figures in both games for a total of 23. Louisburg allowed 12 runs while Ottawa allowed 16.

The Tigers continued a season-long pattern of losing the first game of a given day but coming back to win the second.

"That's our third and fourth games in three days and we had to use four pitchers in league play on Thursday (vs. Pittsburg)," Fort Scott head coach Josh Regan said. "We just had to battle through it.

"We came out and we stunk game one. Not just making errors but making mental mistakes and not playing very smart. We didn't play very tough. I got into them between games pretty good and I'm super proud of how they came back out in the second game and competed."

The Tigers led Louisburg 2-1 after three innings but the Wildcats scored 12 runs in the next three innings, which forced the 10-run rule to kick in after six. Louisburg pitcher Colton Smith held Fort Scott to 4 hits and one walk while striking out 5.

Kaleb DeLaTorre, Grant Goldston, Jarret Lyon and Taylor Engstrom had Fort Scott's hits. Austin Henderson was 4 for 5 for Louisburg and drove in 4 runs.

While Regan said the Tigers made several errors, both mental and physical, there were also several times when breaks didn't go their way that Louisburg took advantage of.

"We had terrible luck but we compounded it," Regan said. "We made some mistakes that ended up costing us. We need to focus on the things we can control, which is our mental approach and how locked in we are and how well we compete."

Ottawa led throughout the second game, putting it away with 5 runs in the top of the sixth. Drew Bones went 2 for 4 and drove in 3 runs for the Cyclones. Driestin Aho was the winning pitcher, allowing a single run in 3 2/3 innings of relief. He allowed 4 hits and struck out 3.

The finale was tied 1-1 after one. Kieran Houlihan tied the score with an RBI single after DeLaTorre led off with a flair single to center and stole second.

The Tigers took the lead for good in the second. DeVonte Robinson scored on Tyler Gorman's 2-out double and Marcus Jamison got Gorman home when he beat out a bad throw to first from Ottawa's shortstop.

Two more went on the board in the third to make it 5-1. Houlihan, the catcher, reached on an error. Gunnar Brown went in to courtesy run and scored on Goldston's double to left. Carter Young's groundout brought Goldston home.

Goldston was doing well on the mound but suffered a groin injury during the two of the fourth. He tried to gut it out but was not able to and was replaced by Ryan Thomas.

"He tried to talk me into leaving him in," Regan said. "He's a key player for us and has worked so hard for us so I really feel for him. We'll hold the fort for him while he's out and we'll be full force come the stretch run of league and Regional time."

Thomas entered the game with runners on the corners and one out and got out of the inning the best he could as Ottawa scored 2 runs.

The Cyclones got an additional run in the top of the sixth to get within 5-4 but the Tigers exploded for 7 runs in the bottom of the innings.

Ottawa, no longer in position to win the tournament on the tie-breaker, tried to rally for the win in the top of the seventh. They scored 6 times in the inning and had 2 runners on with 2 outs -- the tying run was on second -- before Jordan Phillips got a fly-ball out to end the game.

"They battled back and I thought we took a lot of steps today in a positive direction," Regan said. "Physically, we have everything we need. We're just as good as anybody. We have to learn to compete and play fought baseball. When the breaks start to go the other way, we can't let that snowball and turn into huge innings that kill us."

DeLaTorre was 3 for 5 for the Tigers while Engstrom went 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs. Houlihan, Gorman and Jamison each had 2 hits.

Goldston allowed 3 runs on 6 hits and struck out 3 in 3 1/3 innings. However because he didn't go four full innings as the starting pitcher, he was not the winning pitcher by rule. Thomas (1-0) was awarded the win.

The Tigers step back into Southeast Kansas League play this afternoon at 4:30, heading to Parsons for a league doubleheader.

Game One

Fort Scott........................... 002 000 x -- 2 4 3

WP -- Smith. LP -- Page (0-1).

HR -- none.

Game Two

Louisburg......................... 120 000 1 -- 4 9 3

WP -- Aho. LP -- Stone.

HR -- Louisburg: Henderson (7th inn., none on, one out).

Game Three

Fort Scott.......................... 122 007 x -- 12 14 3

WP -- Thomas (1-0). LP -- Ferguson.

HR -- none.