The Festus Tigers participated in the Farmington Wood Bat Classic on Friday and managed to take both games. They Knocked off the host team (the Knights) with a clutch 3-2 walk-off win in the matinee game, and then blasted the Hazelwood West Wildcats 11-3 in the second contest.
The wins gave the Tigers six victories in their last seven games and bumped their season record to 10-5 overall. They’ve been nearly unbeatable since the last week of March.
The game against Farmington started off well for Festus, as they took an early lead on a first inning triple by Hayden Bates. On his toes at third base, he dashed home after a passed ball and the Tigers had themselves a 1-0 lead.
The game would stay that way until the 5th, when both teams plated a run. Farmington struck in the top of the inning to tie the game up at 1-1, but Festus answered right back with an RBI-single from Tyler Bizzle. He laced a ball to center to score Jeremiah Cunningham from second base and take a 2-1 lead.
The Knights rallied in the seventh to tie the game once again, but Mason Schirmer stepped up in the bottom of the frame with the bases loaded. With two outs, he turned on the second pitch he saw and smoked a ball to right to bring home the winning run. The Tigers bum-rushed the field after the walk-off winner.
Brayden Montgomery got the start and went 4.2 solid innings, allowing just one unearned run on four hits and two walks while striking out five. Cole Skaggs came on in relief and picked up the win due to his 2.1 innings of work.
Bizzle had the best day at the plate with a 2-for-3 effort that included an RBI, and Schirmer was as clutch as it gets, coming through with the game-winning base-knock.
Next on the docket were the Wildcats from Hazelwood West, and Festus jumped on them the same way they did the Knights. Bates hit his second 1st-inning RBI-triple of the day and put the Tigers up 1-0. Bizzle then grounded out and pushed Bates across the plate.
The Wildcats responded with a run of their own, but Festus got it right back in the top of the second on a Brady Nolen RBI single to center. The game would quiet down after that, until the fifth inning when the Tigers made some noise. They took advantage of some sloppy play by Hazelwood and trotted six more runs across the plate. The highlight was an RBI triple by Tyler Reece that pushed the score to 9-1.
The Wildcats added a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning, but Festus tacked on insurance runs in the sixth and seventh to maintain their advantage and collect the 11-3 victory. Trenton Young got the win after tossing four innings of one-run ball. He allowed three hits and four walks against three Ks before giving way to Jackson Gross. Gross picked up the three-inning save and allowed two runs on three hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
Nolen seemed to like the wooden bats, as he went 3-for-4 with two RBI. Bizzle, Bates and Cunningham each had two hits and all drove in at least one run.
It was a solid day of baseball for the Tigers, who seem to be finding their groove after a sluggish start to the season. They’ll try and stay hot this week as they take on rival Ste. Gen on Monday.
