Farmington drops two more in Mississippi

HORN LAKE — The Farmington Knights were able to grab three of five games last year on their trip down to Mississippi, but this season the Knights dropped three that included two on Saturday. Senatobia and Horn Lake handed Farmington 11-3 and 17-11 losses on the afternoon as each game was called because of time restraints.

However, the Knights (4-4) were able to come out with a few positives from their trip. Head coach Craig Gibbs was able to get a look at several sophomores in their first attempts to play varsity baseball. Bryan Krause, Jordan Kimrey, Andy Summers, and Michael Standfuss were all included in the list. Summers closed out the first game and relieved in the second as Standfuss got the start in both.

The Knights will hope to bounce back from the losses that they suffered in Mississippi like they were able to last season. They will get their first chance on Tuesday as they will be back on familiar ground. Farmington will host Potosi when both will match-up in their second conference game of the season.

Senatobia 11, Farmington 3

Walks were handed out repeatedly to Senatobia from the start of Farmington’s first game on Saturday. Three walks in the first put the Knights behind from the start, and they were unable to climb back falling 11-3.

Three walks by Alex Freund led to three of the four Warrior runs in the first inning. Senatobia got two of the first three to reach on a walk, and Adam Moore cleaned the bases with a two-RBI double to left field. Tyson McAlexander received the third free pass, and Eric Ainsworth blooped a two-RBI single to left center for the early 4-0 lead.

It looked as if Freund would be able to keep things under control in the second after getting a 1-3 double play, but after his fourth walk, Freund had to face four more batters before getting the final out. Ellis Brown was able to bring in Cameron Scott on a double and a couple of errors plagued the Knights and brought two more runs in for the Warriors before Freund got his opposing pitcher to ground out.

Freund was able to hold Senatobia scoreless in the third frame, but offensively the Knights were unable to help their starting pitcher out. The Knights were only able to bring one run across the plate as they went one-two-three in the first, third and fourth innings.

Farmington followed their scoreless frame in the fourth by nearly batting around their lineup in the fifth. Derek Stroup and Isaac Armstrong were both able to reach on singles before a sacrifice bunt by Adam Blum brought Stroup home. Standfuss and Nick Hoehn followed with singles to bring in Farmington’s third run, but Ryan Schwartz came in relief and halted the Knights’ offensive run with a strikeout to end the inning.

After the Knights had another three-up three-down inning in the sixth, the game was called. Freund took the loss in finada third innings of work as he charged with 11 runs on six hits and walked six while striking out seven. In Summers’ one inning of work he allowed no runs or hits and walked and struck out one.

Armstrong was the only batter in the lineup to get more than one hit on the afternoon as he went 2-3 and scored two runs. Blum went 1-1 with two RBIs, Hoehn went 1-2 with an RBI, and Stroup and Standfuss both grabbed a hit apiece.

Horn Lake 17, Farmington 11

The Knights got off to a similar start in game two as bases on balls haunted them once again in the first. The performance put Farmington fighting back from the beginning, and they were unable to as they dropped their fourth game of the season, 17-11.

The Eagles were able to get their leadoff man on with a bunt, but Austin Overall was unable to advance the runner as he grounded into a 5-6 fielder’s choice. Overall made up for the fielder’s choice with a stolen base and advanced on a wild pitch and a passed ball to put Horn Lake on the scoreboard.

Cragon McBride walked three straight before handing the ball over to Summers. Back-to-back doubles were the result of the pitching change as all three baserunners scored for the 4-0 lead. Summers was able to escape without getting a run charged to his efforts by getting the next to batters to pop-up in the infield.

After a scoreless home half, the Eagles were quick to strike again as another walk led to an RBI-single by Overall. Stevie Nails followed two batters later with a 4-3 sacrifice hit that brought Overall home for a six run lead.

The Knights’ pitchers did the hitting in their half of the inning as McBride, Summers, Freund, and Standfuss were all a part of the two-run inning. Summer got a sacrifice hit that brought McBride home and Freund followed with an RBI single to left that tallied Standfuss’ first run on the afternoon.

The Eagles pitched scoreless frames in the third and fourth, but offensively they were able to add two more to their lead in the third before Standfuss shut Horn Lake’s offense down with three pop-outs in the fourth. Standfuss lost control a bit in the fifth as he allowed two runs to score with only two hits.

Farmington finally brought runners home in back-to-back innings with four in the fifth inning and five in the sixth, but it was already to late as a seven-run sixth inning left the Eagles with a strong grip on the game’s outcome.

McBride was charged with the loss after his short performance in the first inning.