Aiden Massey attempts to read the effective pitching of Lexington Ace John Scott.
Lexington left-hander Jon Scott kept Blythewood batters guessing for most of Tuesday night, but the Bengals did try to make it interesting in the bottom of the seventh.
Scott pitched 6 1/3 innings of one-hit ball and struck out nine before leaving the mound with the Wildcats leading 6-1 with one out. Alex Mack Jacobs came on but later made a throwing error that allowed two runs to score. Blythewood scored a third run after Noah Davis relieved Jacobs.
Davis got Todd Maddox to foul out to clinch a 6-4 win over the Bengals.
“He was really good. He was mixing three pitches,” Blythewood head coach Banks Faulkner said. “He’s one of the best left-handed pitchers in the state, and he was really really good tonight.”
The Bengals had to get creative at the plate and on the bases with just one hit on the night, something that Faulkner liked to see. But he also saw two dropped third strikes that led to baserunners, in addition to two walks, two hit batters, and an error that led to a run.
“I’m proud of the way we battled and how we continued to compete,” Faulkner said, “but we just do some things that show a really, really low baseball IQ. Until we quit doing stuff like that we’re going to continue to get beat by good fundamentally sound teams.”
Maddox started on the mound for Blythewood (4-5 Region 5-5A, 9-7 overall) and pitched two easy innings before making a mistake—Noah Huffmaker’s 2-out home run over the leftfield fence—in the third.
“The first runs came on a 1-2 slider that we backed up after two free bases (a hit batter and a walk),” Faulkner said. “That’s just where we’re at. He’s (Maddox) got great stuff, but he’s still learning to pitch, and it’s unforgiving when you play a team like Lexington.”
The Blythewood right-hander stayed on the mound until two outs in the fifth. Maddox struck out five, but walked two, hit two batters, and gave up four runs.
The Wildcats instantly went up 3-0 on Huffmaker’s drive in the third, but Blythewood got a run in the bottom of the fourth.
With one out, Scott hit Ben Spittler, and gave up Blythewood’s only hit of the game, Aidan Massey’s single to right. Scott then walked Cruz to load the bases.
The next play was an infield complexity. Landon Lucas smashed a ground ball to Josh Asbill at shortstop. Asbill threw to Dalton Landsdowne to force Cruz out at second, but Landsdowne’s throw to first hit the bag and popped up over the head of Chase Crouch at first.
Lucas was safe at first, and Spittler had scored from third. But Crouch caught the ball and threw to catcher Jared Kirven to hang up Massey between third and home. Kirven threw to Cole Lemacks at third and tagged Massey out to end the inning.
Lexington got a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth to bring a 6-1 lead going into the bottom of the seventh. Scott hit Massey but struck out Cruz for the first out.
That’s when Jacobs took the mound and hit Lucas to put runners at first and second for pinch-hitter Jacob Declemente. Declemente smashed the ball back to Jacobs, and Jacobs pivoted as if to throw to second to get Lucas out running for second. Instead, Jacobs’ throw went wild between first and second bases and scurried into right field, far enough for both Massey and Lucas to score.
Jacobs walked Brady Carson and came off the mound with runners at first and third for Davis.
Davis first faced Flemming, who bunt sacrificed Declemente home for Blythewood’s fourth run. Davis got Mattox to foul out on his first pitch to him to close the game.
Blythewood plays at Lexington Friday.
Lexington: 0-0-3-0-1-2-0 – 6 4 1
Blythewood: 0-0-0-1-0-0-3- 4 1 1
WP: Jon Scott. LP: Todd Mattox.
Hitters: Lexington – Noah Huthmaker HR. Chase Crouch 2B.
