The Festus Tigers and the Windsor Owls have a budding rivalry growing across all of their sports programs. And you can add baseball to the list.
This week the Tigers went to Windsor on Monday and fell 2-1 to the Owls, but they got their revenge the next day. On Tuesday, Windsor had to come to Festus and the Tigers blanked them 2-0 in what had to be a delicious yet “best served cold” victory.
The game on Monday was an old fashioned pitcher’s duel. The Tigers had co-ace Nate Moore on the mound, and he did not disappoint. Despite taking the loss, he pitched six innings for a complete game and didn’t allow an earned run. He gave up four hits and two walks for a nice even 1.00 WHIP and fanned seven batters.
Despite his best efforts though, the Tigers couldn’t pull this one out. They had a 1-0 lead after Wyatt Huskey and Jeremiah Cunningham smoked back-to-back doubles in the fifth, but things would unravel in the next inning.
Moore struck out the first batter, but the next would reach via error and set the stage for a Windsor walk-off. Moore struck out the third hitter, which by all accounts should have ended the game, but the Owls rallied and used a 2-RBI double to break the backs of the Tigers.
The Tigers managed to outhit the Owls 6-4, but it wasn’t enough. They did produce three doubles though, the aforementioned two by Huskey and Cunningham, but Jackson Gross barreled up as well.
The back half of the home-and-home series was much better for Festus as far as the end results were concerned, but the pitching was just as stellar. Mason Schirmer didn’t factor in the decision, but had a fantastic start on the bump with 5.2 innings of shutout ball. He allowed just three hits and a pair of walks while racking up nine Ks.
Schirmer also factored in on the offensive side of things with a clutch double in the sixth inning. With the score knotted at zeros, the home team Tigers got things going in the bottom half of the sixth when their SP roped a double to left to lead off the inning. Brayden Montgomery then followed that up with a two-bagger of his own to score Schirmer and the Tigers were on the board.
One batter later Brady Nolen smoked a single to right to bring in another run and Festus had themselves a 2-0 lead. Cole Skaggs pitched a scoreless inning in relief to get the win and Trenton Young got the final out to earn the save. He fanned the only batter he faced with a pair of runners on to end it in dramatic fashion.
That win moved the Tigers to 8-5 on the season and now they will try their hand at the Farmington Wood Bat Classic over the weekend.
