Hopkinsville never trailed but had to withstand a late Madisonville-North Hopkins rally to advance at the 2nd Region baseball tournament.
Preston Chaudoin was strong on the mound for the Tigers — and got relief help from Robert Justus — as Hoptown held off the Maroons 4-3 in quarterfinal round action on Monday at Union County’s Sid Stone Stadium.
Chaudoin surrendered just one earned run on seven base hits in six innings of work. He struck out two and walked three.
Justus pitched the seventh. He allowed a run on two hits as Madisonville scored once to pull within a single run and loaded the bases with just one out.
But Justus got a pair of ground balls to third base to end. One resulted in a force out at the plate while third baseman Landon Snyder stepped on the bag to end the game and send Hoptown into the semifinals.
Hopkinsville (19-14) put together a two-out rally in the first for its first two runs. Aaron Crosby drove in both runs with a line-drive single to left to stake Hoptown to a 2-0 lead.
Crosby singled home another run in the third to make it 3-0.
Madisonville (20-15) got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third when Alex Gray singled to center with two outs to drive in a run and make it 3-1.
But Hopkinsville answered back in the top of the fourth. Layne Jorgensen singled in a run with two outs to extend the Tigers’ lead to 4-1.
The Maroons cut the gap to 4-2 in the fifth on an RBI double by Spencer Ray with two outs. But Madisonville left runners at second and third.
The seventh inning started out great for Madisonville, with a Jon Hogart triple followed by a single by Cole Lawrence to make it a 4-3 ballgame.
Madisonville went on to load the bases with one out, but could not chase home the tying run.
Crosby finsihed 2-for-4 with three RBIs to lead Hoptown at the plate. Jorgensen was 2-for-4 with an RBI while John Duvall also went 2-for-4.
Gray led Madisonville offensively, going 3-for-4 and driving in a run. Lawrence was 2-for-2 with an RBI while Hogart was 2-for-4 with the triple as the Maroons out-hit Hoptown 9-7.
Hopkinsville will next face either Lyon County or Henderson County in Tuesday’s 8 p.m. regional semifinal game.