In the third game of the Region 4 tournament, two of the top teams in the region squared off in an unexpected first round match up. The Logan County Cougars and District 13 champions would take on the Bowling Green Purples in the first round. The Purples were a surprise opponent for the Cougars as they weren’t expecting the number one rated team in the region in the first round.
After seeing what one school in Logan County could do the Purples decided they were not taking any chances with the dangerous Cougars squad and geared their ace to throw against Logan County.
The Purples ace held the Cougars offense down, while their offensive juggernaut rattled off 17 hits and nine runs in the 9-4 first round loss for Logan County.
“They are as advertised, they are good,” LCHS head coach Ethan Meguiar said. “We had a rough fourth, gave up seven runs. They got 17 hits and we threw everything we had at them.”
In the first inning though the Cougars managed to scrap together some walks and some errors on the Purples and pushed across a lone run to go up 1-0 after one inning.
The Purples and Cougars would exchange scoreless innings before Bowling Green would tie it up in the third inning. The Cougars just couldn’t get anything going as the Purples ace brought his ‘A’ game as he touched 90 mph on the gun more than once.
“That kid is throwing 89 mph, not a lot of teams up here that won’t score 4 runs off that,” coach Meguiar said.
Then in the top of the fourth the wheels came off as Thomas Miller, who wasn’t at 100%, got chased from the game and his relief, Caleb Bruner did little to slow down the monster that was the Purples offense as they accounted for seven runs in the fourth.
“My kids, they played well, you know we gave up some runs early and kind of gave them some momentum in that inning that they took advantage of,” coach Meguiar said.
That looked to be the knock out blow but the Cougars showed their resilience like they had all season and hung around and chased the Purples ace from the ball game.
“We were down 8-1, and we finally scored three more runs and finally chased their main pitcher off the mound,” coach Meguiar said.
Then in the bottom of the seventh the Cougars mounted a furious rally.
With two outs they managed to walk in a run and were poised to close up the game if not tie it. With the crowd urging their favorite team to seal the deal Bowling Green once again got a little scared and put in another pitcher to shut down the late push by the Cougars and handed them the 9-4 loss.
“I’m very proud of them, we won 24 games and the district title,” coach Meguiar said. “I mean we could win some games up here, I think we’re easily in the mix with one of the top four teams in the region, no doubt about it. Just a bad draw no other way around it. We just had to play the best.”
The Cougars will be losing Dustin Nash and his dominant pitching performance he made routine, they will also lose Ryan Harper, Brandon Sowell, Brice Moore, and Ryan Steenberger to graduation and their potent offense and defensive prowess. With Harper leaving, the Cougars will have to replace the power that provided protection for Dustin Cartas all year long.
But the Cougars are stacked with young talent and they have their eyes set on a district “three-peat” as well as making a deep run in next year’s region tournament.
Post a Comment
