The UHA baseball team used strong performances on the mound from Drew McGowan and Luke Welch, and timely hitting from Tanner Thomas and Ben Stone, to knock off host Madisonville-North Hopkins 5-4 Saturday afternoon. Both teams led and the game was tied twice, but the Blazers pulled out the victory to stop a two-game skid and even their record at 2-2. The Maroons also stand at 2-2 after dropping their second-straight.
The Maroons struck first in the bottom of the first when Cole Lawrence singled to bring in a run and later scored on a Blazer error. UHA answered to tie it in the third after a walk and an error, with Tanner Thomas singling to center to clear the bases.
Madisonville nosed back in front in the bottom of the third, but the Blazers tied it up again when Mason Price came home on a wild pitch, followed by an RBI single by Ben Stone for a 4-3 lead.
With one out in the bottom of the fifth, McGowan issued a walk followed by a Blazer error to put runners on first and third. Luke Welch relieved McGowan, and the Maroons scored the tying run on a ground out.
Neither team could get anything going in the sixth, but in the seventh a two-out Thomas double set the table for the Blazers’ Dan Johnson. Johnson’s grounder toward short was mishandled, allowing Thomas to score the go-ahead run.
Welch sat the Maroons down in order in the bottom of the seventh, starting and ending the inning with strikeouts to close out the victory.
Welch earned the win, working 2.2 innings while allowing no hits and striking out three. McGowan lasted 4.1 innings, yielding 4 runs, 1 earned, on 3 hits, with 3 walks and 5 strikeouts.
Jon Hogart took the loss, going the distance for the Maroons while surrendering 5 runs, 1 earned, on 3 hits, with 10 strikeouts and 4 walks.
The Blazers will be on the road again on Monday, traveling to Benton to face 1-4 Christian Fellowship.