Crittenden County has been known to pull an upset or two in the district baseball tournament over the past decade. They came close again Monday, but Lyon County held off the rallying Rockets 9-8 to claim the title in Eddyville.
Just as they did in the semifinal win over Livingston Central earlier in the day, the Lyons started quickly behind the bat of Gunnar Bingham who doubled home two runs in the first inning.
The Lyons built a 9-2 lead through four innings as Aidan Rush added an RBI double in the second inning and Christian O’Daniel doubled home a run in the third.
Bingham, who homered twice in Lyon’s semifinal win, smacked a three-run home run to dead center field to put the Lyons up 8-2.
Austin Long was in cruise control on the mound, giving up just two runs through four innings. The Rockets executed a double steal of home to score their first run, and Gabe Mott followed with an RBI single.
In the fifth inning, Long’s pitch count began to build as the Lyons committed two errors and a Crittenden run scored on a dropped third strike. Braxton Winders had an RBI single in the frame to draw Crittenden to within 9-5.
Crittenden put three runners on in the sixth inning but had a runner thrown out at home on a Maddux Carlson double and saw the third out made on a stolen base attempt.
Travis Yancy spelled Long on the mound. In the seventh, Crittenden led off with consecutive walks ahead of a Winders RBI single. A Lyon throwing error put the tying run at second, but Yancy got Trace Adams to fly out to right to end the game.
Bingham finished with three hits – a homer and two doubles – and five RBIs. Yancy added a pair of hits for the Lyons.
Winders led Crittenden County with three hits and two RBIs, and Carlson added two hits.
Long struck out four and allowed six hits and two earned runs in five innings to get the win. He also had one of Lyon’s six doubles at the plate.
Both Lyon County [24-7] and Crittenden County [22-9] will advance to the Second Region Tournament that begins Saturday at University Heights Academy.
