MAC Cardinals drop opening game to St. Charles

'¢ The first four innings, which were played on Wednesday, were published in Thursday's Daily Journal. Here is the game in its entirety.

By DONN ADAMSON
Daily Journal Sports Editor

PARK HILLS — The Mineral Area College Cardinals had a hard time hosting the Region 16 Junior College Tournament on Day One  as the faucet for the day’s rain was turned on and off in recurring cycles Wednesday morning. Finally, after a pair of one-hour delays and a fifth-inning downpour, the officials gave notice that the day’s games were canceled and play was finally resumed on Friday from where they had left off.

The Cardinals, who had opened the day with the St. Charles Cougars as their opponent after a one-hour rain delay, managed to tie the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning. The game was halted after a lead-off single by St. Charles in the top of the fifth.

Both teams erased the chance of a no-hitter by the opposing pitcher in the first inning. Andrew Keating hit a two-out single for the Cougars, and Matt Thompson matched it for MAC, hitting his with only one out.

Kenny Bechaud led off the second with a double for St. Charles, but MAC pitcher David Williams worked out of the trouble with a comebacker, a strike-out and a ground ball to second.

St. Charles pitcher Trevor Zugmaier hit Seth Blackwell with a pitch, but he struck out his third victim in the game to end the second inning.

Trenton Sanders turned on a Williams fast ball and drilled it 380 feet over the leftfield wall to lead off the third. Williams was not phased as he set down the next three in order.

Time was called in the bottom of the third with Matt Thompson owning a 2-2 count and Blake Pinion on first with one out via a free pass.

The tarp was rolled out to cover the infield for a rainfall that lasted only 20 minutes. Players from both teams worked together to remove the tarp, but before they had accomplished their mission, another downpour had the players reversing their direction and once again the infield was covered.  

They tried it again, but each time the rains came back, finally after an hour from the last pitch, the skies subsided their behavior, and play was resumed. After a foul ball, Zugmaier was able to get a ground ball to short for a double play.

The Cougars had an opportunity to increase their minuscule lead in the fourth when a single by Bechaud was followed by a drive off the rightfield fence by Zach Kinkeade. Kinkeade tried for two, but an alert Blackwell played the ball perfectly and threw out Kinkeade at second.

Williams acknowledged his outfielder’s efforts by striking out the next batter to end the inning.

Jimmy Thompson got things going in the bottom of the fourth with a one-out bloop single that fell just inside the foul line and out of the reach of three fielders. Shane Menz worked a full count to draw a walk, and with two outs as the rain began again to fall, Blackwell delivered a line-drive single to left that scored Thompson to tie the game.

John Tierney singled to lead off the fifth for the Cougars, but the rain picked up its intensity, and the umpires signaled to put the tarp back on. Seeing no let up in the weather, the game was called.

On Friday, as soon as the tarp had been removed and the game began to resume, a slow drizzle began, and  it would continue until the game’s end.

Tierney resumed his position on first base with Saunders at bat with the score still 1-1. The only change made to either team was MAC’s pitcher Steven Johnson who took over for starting pitcher David Williams.

WIlliams was still not off the hook even though he did not throw a pitch on Friday. Tierney stole second on the very first pitch and two batters later scored on a double by Adam Arnette. The Cardinals were unable to tie the game again or take the lead, giving Williams the loss.

A single by Keating increased the lead to 3-1. The Cougars scored in all three of the remaining innings. A trio of singles in the sixth produced what would be the winning run with Jon Spencer scoring on a single by Sanders.

With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, St. Charles’ starting pitcher Trevor Zugmaier made the mistake of hitting Ty Craft with a pitch. Four pitches later Blackwell hit a Zugmaier fast ball over the leftfield fence for a two-run homer, giving him all three of MAC’s RBIs.

St. Charles’ last two runs came from an RBI single by Kinkeade, an outfield error and three walks issued by reliever Joe Cole. MAC had no answer against closer Ryan Carbah.

St. Charles  001 021 2 - 6  12  0

Mineral Area  000 102 0 - 3  5  1

WP- Zugmaier 6i 3r 5h 3k 2bb 2hb, SV- Carbah 1i 0r 0h 1k 0bb. LP- Williams 4i 2r 6h 3k 0bb.

Hitting:

St. Charles - Sanders 2-3, Keating 2-3, Bechaud 2-4, Kinkeade 2-4, Tierney 2-4, Spencer 1-3, Arnette 1-4. HR- Sanders, 2b- Arnette, Bechaud.

Mineral Area - Blackwell 2-2, Thompson 2-4, Thompson 1-3. HR- Blackwell.