Fleming survives late Bath rally, advances to championship game

Bath County’s Taylor McFarland safely slides into home, despite a tag attempt by Fleming County’s Nick Clark, as Max Mitchell backs up the play. McFarland’s bottom of the seventh-inning run tied the score at 6-6, but the Panthers went on to win the game in 10 innings. Photo by Brad Laux/1016sports.

It took 10 innings, but host Fleming County finally out-lasted Bath County to win the opening contest of the 61st District Baseball Tournament 7-6.

It was a back-and-forth affair that included three lead changes and was the longest game of the season for either team.

However, it almost seemed as though the Panthers wanted a thrilling conclusion. Despite holding a 6-3 lead through five and a half innings, the lower-seeded Black and Gold squad surrendered a run in the sixth and two more in the bottom of the seventh to push the game into extra innings.

“It was a long (day). We started off great. Harrison (Fryman) came out and threw amazing. He threw five innings of no-run baseball and that’s what I asked him to do. I needed him to throw 75-80 pitches and that’s exactly what he did,” said Fleming County coach Austin Hart. “We could not make a play behind him. It was probably one of our worst defense games. We had six or seven errors and about 11 walks.”

After Bath County (18-13) tied the game, both teams struggled to generate base runners, although Fryman did get all the way to third with two outs in the ninth.

Miscues allowed the Wildcats to tie the score, but in the end, miscues also gave Fleming County the win.

Nick Clark drew a walk to open the 10th. He moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, third on a wild pitch and home on an error.

TJ Miller secured the win by striking out the first two batters in the bottom of the frame, before Josh Crump snared a line drive to end the game.

“Sometimes in basketball, you use all of your energy to get back in a ball game and you get flat. I think that’s what happened with our guys,” Bath County coach Patrick Armitage said. “We tried to grind it out to the best of our ability as the game progressed, but we just could not get those guys that were in scoring position in, and we had several guys that were (in scoring position). We were in position to win the ball game with one run, but we just didn’t get them across the plate.”

Courtesy of Alec Hart’s single, Fleming County (9-18) began the scoring by plating two runs in the top of the second.

That score stood until the bottom of the fourth when Bath County pushed three runners across home plate, helped in part by doubles from Taylor McFarland and Nathan Davis.

Fleming County regained control in the top of the fifth after its first four batters reached base. Nick Sutter and Hart each singled, and Miller followed with a two-run triple to right field. Three batters later, Miller scored on a Max Mitchell single.

Sutter doubled down the left-field line in the top of the sixth and moved up a base on Hart’s single to right field. After a pitching change, Miller drove Sutter home with a sacrifice fly to center field in which Wildcat senior Caden Messer went completely horizontal while diving to make the catch.

Bath County got the run back in the bottom of the frame after Davis drew a walk and eventually scored on a throwing error.

The Wildcats drew within an out of seeing its season end, but Davis singled to right field to score Seth Adams, who reached base on a walk. McFarland, who also walked, moved to third on the play. Then Davis crept toward second, enticing Fleming County into making a throw, which the Panthers did, allowing McFarland to slide home safely under the tag on the return throw.

“We’ve got one of the fastest teams in school history. One through nine, we can steal bases. We’ve got guys that can go from first to third. We’ve got guys who can bunt, and we do a lot of hitting and running. These guys take the extra base. We stole 70 percent of our bases this year successfully. When we get into a position like that and we’re not hitting the ball, we can manufacture runs and play small ball, and that’s exactly what we did,” Armitage said. “Fleming County made some mistakes and we took advantage of them. But, once we got to the top of that mountain, we could not finish it.”

Fleming County finished the night with a 9-5 advantage in hits.

“Offensively, we were great. We put the bat on it. Alec Hart, my brother, he was 5-for-6 (sic) tonight. He hadn’t had a game like that all year. TJ Miller was struggling at the beginning. We got him on some tee work and he came out and got two doubles for us. It was huge, clutch,” coach Hart said. “Tonight, we had some of the best hit-and-runs (we’ve had) all year. We had a couple good bunts. They could have gone down the line a little a bit better and we could’ve got base hits (on them). But, other than that, offensively it was a pretty good night.”

The Panthers’ offense may have been the difference.

“At the end (of the game), it was probably hitting. But, to finish it off, it was probably the pitching. Without that, we probably couldn’t have won,” said Alec Hart, who admitted his team got a wake-up call after Bath County went ahead 3-2 in the fourth.

“After that, we just started playing as a team,” he said.

The younger Hart led the Panthers at the plate with four hits, two RBI and a run scored. Sutter and Miller each added two hits. Sutter scored twice, while Miller finished with three RBI. Rounding out the offense, Mitchell collected one hit and one RBI, and Clark scored twice.

Davis accounted for two of Bath County’s five hits, while also driving in a pair of runs and scoring twice. McFarland, Adams and Brody Donaldson each contributed a hit. Adams also scored twice, with McFarland and Nathan Swartz each crossing home plate once.

Armitage was pleased with the mettle his team showed.

“It was a hard-fought game both ways. We played Fleming County twice this year. We had a big win and then we had a loss in which we didn’t play well. We felt like we were even talent-wise. Experience-wise we were very close. We had a lot of seniors, but we had a lot of seniors who hadn’t played a lot,” he said. “And for us to come out (and) fall behind the way we did in the fashion that we did, and then come back and catch up in the fashion that we did; I felt like we could win it in extra (innings).”

Miller earned the win after pitching five innings in relief. He surrendered two runs on one hit, while striking out seven and walking three. Fryman, the starter, lasted three and two-thirds innings, yielding three runs (two earned) on two hits. He also had seven strikeouts and three walks.

Dylan Richards suffered the loss. He worked four and two-thirds innings, allowing just one run on one hit. He added two strikeouts and walked three. Adams, an eighth-grader who earned the start for the Wildcats, went five and one-third innings. He gave up five runs (three earned) on eight hits. He also struck out four and walked two.

Rowan County defeated Menifee County in the other semifinal and went on to defeat the Panthers in the championship 8-2.

No all-tournament team was selected, but several individuals were recognized for their play during the district portion of the regular season. That group included Fryman and Miller of Fleming County; Adams, Jeremy Terry and James Shields of Bath County; Logan Johnson and Jesse Sparks of Menifee County; and Peyton Fanning, Shane Taylor, Seth Johnson and Cam Planck of Rowan County. Planck was named the MVP.

Fleming County’s Alec Hart rounds third base in the district tournament opener against Bath County. Hart finished the game 4-for-6 with two RBI and two runs scored. The Panthers defeated the Wildcats 7-6 in 10 innings. Photo by Brad Laux/1016sports.