FRANKLIN — District games are supposed to be competitive, but Logan County and Franklin-Simpson take the word “rivalry” to a whole new level.
The Cougars and Wildcats battled back and forth on Tuesday night at Greg Shelton Field, but it was Franklin-Simpson who emerged as victors after junior Jacob Curtis’ walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the tenth gave the Wildcats a thrilling 3-2 victory to avenge an earlier loss this season to the Cougars.
“It’s always good to get a district win, but to come out with a split after losing against those guys over there…it means a lot to our guys,” Franklin-Simpson coach Kyle Gammons said. “It means a lot to how competitive they were tonight. Things went against us, went for us, went against us, went for us. I was proud of the way the guys responded, and hopefully that’ll be a little momentum for us going forward.”
“Just a typical Logan County-Franklin game,” Logan County coach Ethan Meguiar said. “Everybody got their money’s worth tonight, that’s for sure.”
Franklin-Simpson (17-6, 4-1 District 13) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third when Quentin Kitchens reached base on a dropped third strike to plate Jordan Jones.
Neither team scored in the next two innings, and Logan County (15-7, 4-1) tied the game when Ethan Meguiar singled to right field to plate Kaleb Justice. The Cougars went in front 2-1 as Parker White drew a bases-loaded walk with only one out, but Logan County was unable to tack on any more runs as it left the bases loaded.
The Wildcats began the bottom of the seventh with three consecutive walks to load the bases before Hunter Crafton continued the trend with a bases-loaded walk to tie the game with only one out. However Franklin was unable to walk off and end the game then as Cougar relief pitcher Riley Ferguson induced a pop fly and recorded a strikeout to send the game into extras.
Both teams put a runner in scoring position with a double in the eighth inning, but neither team was able to the runner home as the game went into the ninth.
Neither the Wildcats nor Cougars were able to scratch across a run in the ninth, and the Wildcats were finally able to seal the deal with Curtis’ walk-off RBI single to plate Rylan Thomas and give Franklin the win on a night where the Wildcats left 12 runners on base, including nine in scoring position.
“We got to come through when we have runners on base,” Thomas said. “I struggled tonight but the very last inning when it counted I got on base and Jacob Curtis did what he does.”
UP NEXT
The Wildcats will look to keep the momentum rolling against Pleasure Ridge Park on Friday night at home—weather pending. The Panthers handed the Wildcats a heart-breaking 4-3 loss in the quarterfinals of last year’s Whitaker Bank/KHSAA State Baseball Tournament.
Logan County will look to bounce back on Thursday night as the Cougars host Allen County-Scottsville.
