March 28, 2024

Bulldogs win classic pitchers’ duel, 1-0

Image 1 of 2

MURRAY — After one inning of Friday’s baseball game here, six batters had been set down in order by pitchers Kenny Boles of Murray and Jordan Thompson of Orient-Macksburg.

Murray head coach Travis Held turned to assistant Tucker Guion and said, “We’ve got a pitchers’ duel here.”

What an understatement that turned out to be.

Boles, the Mustangs’ sophomore lefthander who threw a no-hitter in the season opener, finished with a one-hit gem featuring 12 strikeouts and three walks. And a loss.

Thompson, O-M’s big senior righthander, gained the 1-0 victory with six strikeouts and one walk, allowing only two Murray hits. He was backed by an errorless Bulldog defense that was the best in his two seasons as coach, Tyler Peterson said.

“That backhand by (shortstop) Dylan Nichols in the bottom of the seventh was one of the toughest plays I’ve seen in a long time,” said Peterson, former player on Lenox’s state champion team. “Blake Sevier made some great plays around first base. That’s the best defensive job my guys have done in the last two years I’ve been here.”

The win was big for O-M, moving to 6-1 in the Bluegrass Conference. Twin Cedars also has one defeat, and owns the tiebreaker with a head-to-head victory. Overall, the Bulldogs improved to 8-7.

Murray slipped to 6-6 overall and 4-3 in league play, but coach Held couldn’t cite any shortfalls, except lack of offense.

“I just wish we could have been on the other end of it, but that was a good ballgame,” Held said. “We didn’t hit the ball very hard against Thompson, and the one hard hit we had, their shortstop made the play.”

Thompson joined the defensive effort by erasing the Mustangs’ threat to at least tie the game in the bottom of the sixth. Leadoff batter Trey McHenry reached on an infield hit and stole second base.

Thompson got a strikeout for the second out, and then caught McHenry straying too far off second. The Mustang senior stayed alive in a rundown between second and third for five throws, but eventually was tagged for the third out, with No. 3 batter Braydon Held at the plate.

“We had a decent scouting report on him, and I told Jordan, if he’s doing that, mix up your pickoffs and take a look,” Peterson said. “He made a decision to take a look at him, we executed the rundown and got him. That was huge for us. Their kid was sure hustling back and forth to stay alive.”

“Trey was trying to be aggressive and he thought he (Thompson) was going home,” Held said. “We had a pretty good situation there, but Thompson was tough all night.”

The lone scoring play occurred in the O-M fourth inning. Jackson Mikkelsen was safe on an infield error and stole third base with one out. Joey Huntington got the squeeze bunt sign from Peterson.

He not only got the bunt down as Mikkelsen was streaking home, but also beat the throw to first base for an infield single, giving Thompson the only run he’d need.

“It was a suicide, I sent him,” Peterson said. “I was crossing my fingers. But we practice that and Joey is an excellent one to be in there for that. And, he ran it out. Doing the little things like that wins you ballgames.”

Held thought it might be coming, but there isn’t much the defense can do when the bunt is well-placed.

“I told Kenny afterward, about the only thing he could have done is elevated the ball a little more and try to get him to pop it up,” Held said. “But you have to give them credit for executing the play.”

Peterson felt his team needed to manufacture a run when the opportunity was there, since Boles was making it tough to bunch hits together.

“That lefthander, he mixed things up on us,” Peterson said. “Coming from a different side, our guys haven’t seen that all year, which is surprising. He came from three quarters, sideways, he mixed his pitches well. Jordan was equally tough for us. It was a fun game all the way around.”

“I knew Thompson threw real well, and I have a lot of confidence in Kenny,” Held said. “He changes arm slots and moves the ball in and out well. He’s been pitching real well.”

Murray seniors introduced with their parents between games Friday were Braydon Held, Justin Jones, Matt Rockhold, Brandon Short, Mason Simmons, Frank Thacker and McHenry.

Next up for the Mustangs is a game at CAM of Anita on Tuesday, while the Bulldogs face East Union tonight in Afton.

Orient-Macksburg 1,

Murray 0

R H E

O-M 000 100 0 — 1 1 0

Murray 000 000 0 — 0 2 3

OM: Jordan Thompson 6K 1BB 1 HBP and Jackson Mikkelsen. M: Kenny Boles 12K 3BB 1 HBP and Zane Black. W — Thompson. L— Boles. RBI — OM: Joey Huntington 1. Multiple hitters — none.