On Friday night the UHA Blazers took a lead into the seventh inning of their meeting with Crittenden County, but 7 Rocket runs set the stage for the Blazers’ Luke Welch to take a heroic turn in an 8-7 walk-off victory. UHA snaps the red-hot Rockets three-game win streak, that included wins over Trigg County and Lyon County, to improve to 10-9 overall. The Blazers will host Butler County on Saturday.
UHA took the lead in its opening at-bat when Tanner Thomas came home on a wild pitch. They tacked on 2 more runs in the bottom of the fifth on a 2-run error, and starting pitcher Luke Welch cruised through the first six frames while only allowing a single hit.
But after beginning the seventh with a walk and a hit by pitch, Crittenden’s Jayden Carlson tripled to bring in 2 and trim the Blazer lead to one. Welch walked the next batter, before being relieved by Thomas. The Rockets tied the game on an error, followed by three-consecutive singles and two more UHA errors for a 7-3 advantage.
Dustin Moon and Drew McGowan drew walks to start the bottom of the seventh, and Thomas followed with an RBI single. Dan Johnson singled to score McGowan, bringing Welch to the plate with runners in scoring position.
The Rockets brought in Eric O’Leary to face Welch, and he greeted him with a double to left field to score two, going from second to home on the throw for the winning run.
Maddox Carlson took the loss for Crittenden, pitching 5.0 innings and allowing 3 runs, 1 earned, on 3 hits, with 4 walks and a couple of strikeouts.