Lexington limits Dutch Fork to one hit in baseball playoffs

Jon Scott and two relievers combined to throw a one-hitter to put Lexington into the winner’s bracket of the Class 5A Lower State baseball championship series after a 10-2 victory over Dutch Fork Friday night.

On a cool, windy evening, Scott pitched five no-hit innings. He gave way to Alex Mack Jacobs and Noah Davis to finish it off.

“He was effectively wild, I guess,” Lexington coach Brian Hucks said of his starting pitcher. “That’s kind of who he is. He has a tendency to walk the wrong people, but he’s really good against their best guys. That’s what he did tonight. He’s a warrior for us, he’s our guy and he gave us a chance to win.”

Lexington will host Region 5-5A rival River Bluff at 2 p.m. Saturday. The Gators swept the two-game series against the Wildcats this season. Dutch Fork will try to keep its season alive hosting Summerville in an elimination contest at 2 p.m. as well.

Scott wasn’t flawless. The lefty walked seven, hit a batter and struck out eight in throwing 100 pitches. The three pitchers combined to walk 10, and had another Silver Fox batter reach on catcher’s interference. But they stranded nine Dutch Fork base runners.

Scott thought the turning point was getting out of the first inning without allowing a run. The Silver Foxes loaded the bases with no outs, but Scott settled recorded a strike out then got out of the jam with a double play on a line drive to short.

“I think that was the game changer,” Scott said. “We got the momentum back and we were able to keep it for the rest of the game.”

Lexington (21-7) pushed across a single run in the first and two in the fifth before breaking things open with a six-run sixth inning. The Wildcats took advantage of the Silver Foxes wildness and sloppy play in the field to score the runs on one hit. Dutch Fork had one error, walked three and hit two other batters in the frame.

Dalton Lansdowne went 3-for-4 with three doubles for Lexington and Jared Kirven was 2-for-2 with 3 RBIs to lead the offense.

“I told our guys, it’s kind of like a shark,” Hucks said. “When you get blood in the water, you have to roll. We had opportunities early in the game but hit into some double plays. Then we finally broke loose to get a safe cushion.”

Dutch Fork coach Casey Waites felt that was the turning point.

“You can’t give up free base runners, by error or the walk,” he said. “It will hurt you every time in this game when you’re playing against great teams.”

This story was originally published May 5, 2017 at 10:17 PM with the headline "Lexington limits Dutch Fork to one hit in baseball playoffs."