The Lions fought a tough battle on Tuesday facing the St. Albans Red Dragons from West Virginia. According to Max Preps, a leading website for high school baseball, the Red Dragons are ranked number 3 in the state of West Virginia and 530 overall in the country. Senior, Garrett Duerson pitched one of the best games of his season while Chandler Guidry took the mound for St. Albans.
Duerson gave up a leadoff walk to Casey Kemplin to start the top of the first but would record three quick outs to end the inning. Guidry would follow with a 1-2-3 inning to end the scoreless first.
Duerson allowed his first hit of the night in the top of the second on a single to centerfield. The runner advanced to third after a throwing error from Logan Fifer, but Duerson was able to hold the runners and keep the game at 0-0.
The Red Dragons would be the first to score after a one-out walk and single put runners on first and third. An RBI groundout put St. Albans up 1-0 in the top of the third inning.
The Lions came back to tie the game in the bottom of the fourth after a leadoff single from Duerson. Back-to-back passed balls brought in the tying run, but the inning was over after a fly out to the right fielder.
The Lions committed two errors in the top of the fifth giving Nick Loftis the opportunity to drive in a pair of runs on an RBI single. Guidry followed with a dominant 1-2-3 inning recording his sixth strikeout of the day.
Evan Cash came in for Duerson in the top of the seventh, but four singles on the inning would score four runs for the Red Dragons. The Lions fell to St. Albans by a score of 7-1 after seven hard-fought innings. Duerson pitched 6 strong innings throwing 100 pitches and allowing just five hits. The Lions are set to face Franklin County, Virginia on Wednesday at 5 pm. Let’s Go Lions!
