GLASGOW—The last time Barren County and Glasgow met on the baseball diamond, Barren County senior Issac Reynolds had to watch from the dugout as Glasgow erased a 4—0 deficit and overcame seven errors to hand Barren County a heart-breaking 5-4 loss in eight innings on the Trojans’ home field.
Barren County achieved revenge on Tuesday night, and Reynolds was a major driving factor for the Trojans…literally.
The senior hit for three legs of the cycle to drive in four runs while hitting a go-ahead home run in the top of the fifth, and Barren County used a six-run sixth inning to pull away for a 10-4 victory over the Scotties at Richardson Park.
“We got (Reynolds) back four games ago, and he’s just that spark that we’ve been missing in the middle of the lineup,” Barren County coach JR Estes said. “He hits the big two-run jack, and these guys feed off him: he’s a senior, he’s a captain and he’s a leader.”
“Just seeing the ball,” said Reynolds when asked what was working for him at the plate. “(The ball) was huge: it looked like a beach volleyball to me.”
The Trojans picked up their first 15thDistrict win of the season, and Barren County has now won three out of its last four games after starting the season 2-6.
Junior Justin Combs earned the win on the mound for the Trojans, allowing just two runs on four hits and five walks while striking out nine in five innings of work.
“I went out and talked to him (in the bottom of the fourth) when (Glasgow) went up 2-0,” Estes said. “I just said ‘Listen, you have to give us a chance to stay in the ballgame, give us a chance to come back.’ He really went to work for the next couple innings for us.”
Barren County (5-7, 1-2 District 15) trailed after the first inning as Ryan Jones scored on a wild pitch to give the Scotties an early 1-0 lead. Jones had advanced into scoring position at third when he moved around on an errant pickoff attempt at first base after leading off the half inning with a walk.
The Scotties (6-4, 1-2) tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth as Griffin Murphy grounded out to drive in Thad Dial, who had reached on a single with one out. Glasgow did strand on base Nik Sorrell and Ryan Jones, who recorded a walk and single, respectively, to load up the bases before Murphy’s RBI groundout.
Barren County then did its damage in the top of the fifth.
The Trojans chipped into the deficit when Caleb Day grounded out to plate Mason Gillon, who had led off the inning with a walk. Reynolds then connected on an off-speed pitch and sent a two-run shot over the left field wall to give Barren County a 3-2 advantage.
“I got every bit of it,” Reynolds said. “It was a curveball, and I read it out of his hands.”
Barren continued its onslaught in the top of the sixth, scoring six runs on six hits.
Merrik Coulter opened up the floodgates with an RBI double down the left field line, and Zach Wasson and Day had back-to-back RBI singles to push the Trojans’ lead to 6-2.
Reynolds laced a 2-RBI double to left center for the third leg of the cycle, and Luke Wells notched an RBI single to give Barren County a 9-2 edge.
The Scotties narrowed the deficit to 9-4 by scoring two runs in the bottom of the sixth, but Glasgow left the bases loaded when Gavin Burd struck out looking to end the inning.
The Trojans tacked on another run when Nate Simpson scored on an errant pickoff attempt at third base after leading off with a double to left while the Scotties were able to score another run in the bottom of the seventh as Barren County took the win.
“This is the game we’ve been waiting for all year,” Estes said. “You can tell by the record that we haven’t been the typical Barren County team that we’ve had in the past. But we’re young, we’ve just been kicking it around and we haven’t got the big hits. You saw (Tuesday night) that we finally got the big hits that we’ve been looking for.”
UP NEXT
Barren County will look to pick up its fourth win in five games on Thursday night when the Trojans cross the Tennessee border to take on White House Heritage.
Glasgow will continue its homestand with Metcalfe County on Friday night, the Scotties looking to snap their two-game skid.
