Putting up runs first in postseason baseball is huge, especially when taking advantage of the opponents mistakes.
Mason County was able to do that on Monday in their 39th District Baseball Tournament Semifinal matchup with Bracken County, coming away with a 6-2 victory over the Polar Bears at Mason County.
The Royals scored five runs in the first two innings and let Landen Bowling do the rest on the mound to earn a championship berth into Tuesday’s 39th District Championship and a spot in the 10th Region Tournament that begins on Saturday.
“Those early hits set the tone for the rest of the ballgame. Usually when Landen Bowling pitches, we hardly get him any run support what so ever. To go out there and scratch those early runs across was big,” Royals coach Kevin McClanahan said. “We still have some mental mistakes that we cannot have once we enter the regional tournament, but we’ll take the win and move on.”
The miscues came early for the Polar Bears, giving the Royals an extra out to work with in the first two innings.
A two-out error in the first was followed by a walk and then a two-run double from David Selby to get them a 2-0 lead.
“What coach has always said to me is always have confidence when you go up to the plate. I was just looking for a base hit and try and score a run, turned into something even better and got us two runs in the first inning and really helped us out,” Selby said.
An error paired with a passed ball was followed by a Brayden Porter RBI single to bring Jake Swolsky home and the Royals a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second. Landen Prather followed with an RBI single and made it all the way to third after another Polar Bears miscue on the play. Prather would later score on a passed ball, Mason County’s first five runs with only one of them earned.
“Put ourselves in a hole early. Once we were able to stop the bleeding, we started playing to glove and kept ourselves in it,” Polar Bears coach Josh Cummins said. “I was pleased with our approach at the plate. You face somebody of Landen’s caliber you know runs are going to be hard to come by. We knew that and really had to stop those big innings and of those first five runs in the two innings, maybe one of them was earned.”
The Polar Bears also had their chances in the early innings, stranding runners at the corners with one out in the first and leaving another runner on in the second.
Bowling and Tad Fisher would settle in on the mound from there. Bowling retired 11 straight from the second through fifth innings to keep the lead at 5-0. Fisher worked scoreless third and fourth innings until succumbing to a run in the bottom of the fifth as Carson Brammer’s leadoff double was later brought home by David Selby’s third RBI of the day on an RBI groundout to make it 6-0.
“Anything that helps the team. Just pull through for the team. Make plays, hit the ball and we’ll be pretty good,” Selby said.
The Polar Bears mounted a rally in the sixth as Nathan Jefferson’s two-run double made it 6-2 Royals. He’d be left on the paths after that with two groundouts ending the inning from there, the last a bang-bang play at first in which Bowling’s throw from off the mound just beat Kyle Nesbitt at first.
A leadoff single from Travis Tucker got things off to a promising start for the Polar Bears in their final at-bat, but the threat was quickly diminished after Trey Brausch grounded out into a double play.
Bowling pitched a complete game, allowing six hits and two runs while striking out seven and not issuing a walk.
“It was just a matter of getting my bottom half figured out after the first couple of innings. Coach Tumey told me I was just trying to locate too much and that my bottom half was going too quick. He told me to drive down the mound quicker and get a later rotation on my hips and it helped out,” Bowling said.
Fisher also hurled a complete game, allowing six hits and six runs, only two of them earned while striking out six and walking just two.
“Once we started playing some defense behind him I thought Tad pitched great. He did exactly what we needed him to do and gave us a chance to win. Unfortunately some errors at the beginning and maybe just one or two more timely hits and there’s a different outcome,” Cummins said.
With Fisher and five others set to graduate, Cummins will be looking to replace a lot of production that starts with the school’s all-time hits leader and also a senior class that includes Trey Brausch, Kyle Nesbit, Tyler Rice, Chris Thomas and Travis Tucker.
“The goal was to win districts. No matter how the draw played out, the goal was to win two games. Of course we’re disappointed now, but they have a lot to be proud of and nothing to hang their heads about. That senior class will be missed for sure,” Cummins said.
The loss ends Bracken County’s season at 20-11, the 20 wins being the most since 1994 when they went 23-6.
Mason County improved to 11-15 and now faces St. Patrick in the championship game on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
“We’re going to take it like a regular ballgame to start out with and if things go differently and it gets out of hand early, everyone is going to play. Our mindset is everyone is going to play tomorrow. All these kids have went in to what we do all year and I want to give those kids an opportunity to play in a district tournament,” McClanahan said.
ROYALS 6, POLAR BEARS 2
BRACKEN COUNTY—000-002-0—2-6-3
MASON COUNTY—230-010-x—6-6-1
2B — (BC) Jefferson (MC) Selby, Brammer
RBI — (BC) Jefferson 2 (MC) Selby 3, Porter, Prather
R — (BC) Sorrell, Lucas (MC) Brammer 2, Broughton, Swolsky, Porter, Prather
LOB — (BC) 5 (MC) 3
WP — Bowling. LP — Fisher
Records: Bracken County 20-11, Mason County 11-15
