Vandals Stay Alive For The Playoffs

After a long swine flu break, the Van Vandals’ baseball season restarted for one win-or-go-home game against district rival Wills Point. Van (13-9) scored seven runs throught the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to win 7-2, extend their season into the playoffs for the eighth time in nine seasons. The Vandals began a three-game series against the Lovejoy Leopards on Tuesday.

Chance Cotton (8-3) got the win for Van, striking out seven in a complete game effort. Wills Point grouped three hits in the second inning to take a 1-0 lead, but Cotton would hold the Tigers to three more hits over the final five innings. He faced 20 batters in that span and gave up a run in the sixth after Van held a 7-1 lead.

The Vandal offense, meanwhile, wasted base runners in the first three innings before scoring three in the fourth. Harrison and Cotton walked to start the inning, advanced on Austin Carpenter’s sacrifice bunt, and then scored on a throwing error and a wild pitch. Tye Hughes singled home Damon Hightower to give Van a 3-0 lead.

The Vandals then scored two in the fifth and two in the sixth, highlighted by a triple and single by Pennington and four errors by the Wills Point defense. Hughes was 2-of-4 with a double and an RBI.