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Red Sox drop tough extra-inning battle at home
By Eric Wade
Nevada Daily Mail
As nearly every current of former baseball player or coach will say, unearned runs can be a lot of things, but are always the one thing to be avoided. The Nevada Red Sox AAA squad learned that lesson all too well Thursday night as they fell to Carl Junction in extra innings.
In the top of the eighth, Carl Junction's Payton Walker came to the plate with the intention of trying to bring home Matt Thompson on a suicide squeeze play, but a miscue by Nevada reliever Austin Baldwin turned what could have been an out at the plate into an unearned run and ultimately a 6-5 Carl Junction victory.
Coming into the game, Red Sox head coach Jim Rayburn had little idea what to expect out of his players. In their last action, the Red Sox traveled to Everton, Mo., for what everyone knew should have been little more than a tune-up victory. Little did Red Sox players, coaches and fans know, that turned out to be far from the case.
The offense came early and often for the Red Sox in both contests against Everton, ultimately allowing Nevada to win both games by a combined total of 46-2. Ethan Beisner went 5-for-5 and Dusty Schlicting had two home runs while Taylor Scotten added one of his own in the opener as the Red Sox cruised to a 35-1 victory in five innings.
In game two, Sam Ellifrits hit Nevada's third home run of the day while Baldwin and Grant Wolfe each had four hits in an 11-1 victory. "That was the worst team I've ever seen," Rayburn said of the opposition.
Thursday's contest was a much different scenario as the Red Sox needed a four-run second inning to take their first lead of the contest at 4-3. That lead didn't last long as Carl Junction reclaimed a one-run advantage with RBI hits from Thompson and Garrett Carden in the top of the fourth.
Center fielder Kohlten Wilson knotted the game up at five in the home half of the fifth with an RBI sacrifice fly to right that ultimately set up the extra inning drama. Carl Junction took the lead for the final time in the top of the eighth inning on Baldwin's error and ultimately held on to take the victory by a final score of 6-5.
Wolfe and Grant Davis each finished the contest with two RBIs while Wilson went 1-for-3 and knocked in Nevada's other run.
Schlicting struggled on the mound starting for Nevada as he allowed five runs on six hits with four strikeouts and seven walks in 5 2-3 innings and ultimately did not factor in the decision. Walker got the start on the mound for Carl Junction and ultimately did not factor in the decision either as he allowed five runs on four hits with 10 strikeouts, six walks and a hit batter in a very strong 5 1-3 innings.
The Red Sox are scheduled to be in action again today, hoping to erase the bitter taste of that tough loss as they head back out on the road to take on Harrisonville.