YATES CENTER — The Yates Center High baseball team were in St. Paul on Monday and hosted Jayhawk-Linn Thursday afternoon.
The Wildcats dropped their first matchup at St. Paul despite a gutsy comeback in a 13-7 loss. Yates Center then came out on top in the second game when Emmett Brittain laid down an RBI bunt for the go-ahead score in a 4-3 victory.
Game one
St. Paul emerged for a 4-0 lead after the first inning and then led 8-2 by the end of the third. Jacob Meigs toed the rubber for the Wildcats, allowing seven runs on eight hits through three innings before a couple of relievers came on for the last three innings.
In the top of the fifth, Emmit George reached first base on an error and scored on a Meigs RBI single to center field to make it 8-3. Yates Center plated four more runs in the top of the fifth, including Jayston Rice’s three-run homer to left field to make it 8-6.
Brittain got on base again on a single to left field. He later scored on an error to slice the deficit to 8-7.
The rally didn’t work for Yates Center though as the Wildcats served up three runs in the bottom of the fifth and two more runs in the bottom of the sixth.
“I was proud of the guys for continuing to battle even though we got down early we showed some fight and that’s what we have to continue to do,” said Yates Center head coach Jarrod McVey.
Brittain pitched the fourth inning and gave up four runs on three hits while Rice took the ball for the final two innings and allowed two runs on four hits while striking out three.
Game two
The Wildcats were able to work some late heroics, when Brittain laid down the game-winning RBI bunt to score Blake Morrison.
Tristan Ballin knocked an RBI groundout to plate Meigs for a 1-0 lead in the top of the second. St. Paul responded with three in the bottom of the second.
Cavendar started at pitcher for Yates Center and allowed three runs through 2.1 innings. Morrison pitched in relief and shut out the Indians through 2.2 frames before William Stackhouse recorded the final four outs without allowing a hit.
Yates Center’s Jayston Rice walked and scored on a passed ball to make it a 3-2 deficit in the top of the sixth. The Wildcats held St. Paul scoreless in the bottom of the sixth before Ballin had a single to lead off the seventh. He later scored on a passed ball to knot the game at 3-3, setting the stage for Brittain’s bunt.
Stackhouse then recorded the final outs for the Yates Center victory.
