High School Baseball: Rams stomp Tigers in blowout victory

By BRANDON HURLEY

sports@beeherald.com

A 16-hit performance powered the Greene County baseball team to a 20-8 dismantling of the visiting Carroll Tigers Thursday, June 9.  

The Rams (3-8), jumped on top early, using an eight run opening frame to take a commanding 8-0 lead after one inning. The Tigers would get five back in the top half of the second before Greene County ran across five more in the bottom of the inning and seven in the third. Neither squad would score in the fourth inning, giving the Rams a victory by the 10-run mercy rule. 

The top of the lineup carried the Rams offensive attack, as the squad’s 1-3 hitters (Tyler Beger, Tom Gannon, Reid Lamoreux) each collected three hits. Both Beger and Gannon knocked in four runs as well. 

Beger, a senior, was also a terror on the base paths, as the Rams’ lead-off hitter stole a whopping five bases and scored four runs Thursday night. 

Senior Brandon Miller stroked two hits to go with four stolen bases and two runs scored. 

Freshman Austin Delp and junior Logan Lansman collected two hits apiece to round out the offensive attack. As a team, the Rams stole 15 bases Thursday. 

The 20 runs were Greene County’s highest offensive output, by far, this season, nearly doubling their previous high-mark of 11 in a victory over Collins-Maxwell/Baxter May 27. 

Lamoreux, a senior, continued his blistering start to the 2016 season, as he is now batting .710 for the year, collecting 22 hits in 31 at bats. His superhuman-like average at the plate leads all batters in Class 3A with at least 20 at bats. 

Fellow senior Beger is batting .405 with a team-leading nine runs batted in. In 11 at bats, Delp is batting .636 during his rookie campaign. 

Junior starter Dylan Fouch got the win on the mound, as he tossed four-innings of two-hit, five run ball while striking out seven. Fouch is 1-0 on the year with a 6.63 ERA  and 14 strikeouts in 12 and two-thirds innings of work. 

Thursday’s loss dropped Carroll to 0-6 on the year. 

Following their 12-run dismantling of Carroll, the Greene County baseball team fell into a two game rut, as the Rams’ bats were silent in back-to-back losses to Roland-Story (5-2) and PCM (3-2). 

DOMINANT NORSEMEN PITCHING STIFLES RAM BATS 

Greene County could only muster three hits during Friday’s loss in Jefferson, as senior starter Tyler Hovick shut down the Greene County offense, tossing seven innings and striking out six. 

Roland-Story put up a run in the first two innings and three more in the top of the third to take a 5-0 lead. The Rams finally scored their first run in the bottom of the fourth, followed by another in the fifth, but it was too little too late as the Norsemen and Hovick shut down the Greene County bats for the remaining two innings. 

Sophomores Tom Gannon and Wade Adcock and freshman Austin Delp were the only Rams’ batters to secure a hit Friday night. Delp contributed the squad’s only RBI, as he knocked in Adcock, who reached base on a double. Junior Chase Stoline scored the Rams’ only other run. 

Senior pitcher Tyler Beger suffered the loss, tossing two and two-third innings of six-hit, four-run ball He walked three and struck out three. 

Brandon Miller and Reid Lamoreux combined for four and two-third innings of scoreless ball in replacement of Beger. 

PCM PREVAILS IN LOW-SCORING HOIC MATCHUP 

Offense was at a premium for both squads during Monday’s loss in Monroe, as the Rams and PCM played to a stand still for the first three innings. 

The Mustangs were able to score the game’s first run in the bottom of the fourth inning. 

The visiting Rams once again could not figure out the opposing pitching, as PCM senior Austin Brown struck out 11 Greene County batters in seven innings of work. He allowed no earned runs and gave up just six hits. The ace held the Rams’  offense scoreless through six innings, when the Rams were able to tie the game with two runs in the top of the seventh. 

But any hopes of completing the comeback were quickly dashed in the final frame, as Roland-Story was able to secure the victory with a win in the bottom of the seventh. 

The losses dropped the Rams to 3-8 on the season. 

Greene County is in action again tonight (Thursday, June 16) after a two-day layoff, as they host the Bondurant-Farrar Bluejays. Bondurant-Farrar enters the non-conference matchup boasting a 7-5 record and riding a two-game losing streak.