Seeming to find its stride at the perfect time, the Todd County Central High School baseball squad got another masterful pitching performance and continued its winning ways Monday with a 6-0 home win over McLean County.
It was the fourth straight victory for the Rebels, who have shut out their opponents three times during their current winning streak. Todd Central is also out-scoring teams 37-2 during that window. Preston Rager was the latest hurler to find success on the bump. He struck out 10 and walked just two in the two-hit shutout MCHS.
Todd and McLean found themselves locked in a pitchers’ duel for the first four innings in Elkton. The lone run during that stretch came on Devin Schutt’s two-out RBI single in the bottom of the third, plating Jase Hampton to give the host Rebels a 1-0 advantage.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, TCCHS started to pull away when Rager walked and scored on Ethan Bicksler’s RBI single. Tanner Farmer then delivered the biggest blow of the night — a two-out, two-run home run to right that put Todd ahead 4-0. It was Farmer’s first homer of 2021 but pushed his team lead in season RBIs to 28.
Rager had a solid game offensively and helped himself out, despite not having a hit. One of the two walks he drew at the plate came with the bases loaded in the sixth inning, putting Todd County Central up 5-0. Nate Reding scored the game’s final run on a steal of home with one out in the sixth.
The visiting Cougars (9-18) did put on a couple of runners in the seventh to attempt a comeback, but Rager got Whit Searcy to ground into a fielder’s choice double play to end the contest and give Rager his third win in five starts this season.
Hampton had the best night of anyone at the dish. He went 3-for-3 with two runs. Reding (1-for-2, run, stolen base), Schutt (1-for-4, RBI, stolen base) and Bicksler (1-for-4, run, RBI) were also key in the win. McLean County’s Grant Lovell (2-7) went the distance and struck out six, but took the loss. Lovell gave up eight hits, six runs, and three walks in six innings.
Todd County Central (20-9) has one more regular-season home game — a May 25 date with Fort Campbell — before playing its final postseason tuneup May 27 at Dawson Springs.
