The Chillicothe Hornets played the Lincoln Prep Tigers in the Pony Express Tournament on Tuesday from Hyde Park in St. Joseph. Chillicothe was looking to break a three game slide and entered the contest at 11-5.
The Hornets bats were connecting early. Senior slugger Noah Rinehart, opened the scoring in the first inning with an RBI double into right field, then in his next plate appearance in the third, came through with another RBI double. Jack Marshall then gave the Hornets their largest lead at 5-1 later in the 3rd with a two RBI single that scored Rinehart and Howie Donoho.
Chillicothe started freshman Deakan Delaney on the mound, who pitched 3 and one third innings allowing just two hits and one run while walking five batters, but found himself in a jam in the bottom of the fourth. Fellow freshman Cooper Helton entered the contest and closed the inning out with a strikeout, then fielded a ground ball for the final put out, but the Tigers added three runs to make it 5-4. After both teams scored once in the 5th frame, Chillicothe held a 6-5 advantage in the bottom of the 6th.
Lincoln Prep took their first lead on an RBI from Jake Reyes followed immediately by a sacrifice fly into center field. The Hornets facing adversity and trailing for the first time responded with a base hit from Helton that scored Donoho to tie the game with two outs. Then the Hornets loaded the bases before Cooper Robinson belted a ball against the fence in left, clearing the bases to put Chillicothe ahead 10-7.
The Hornets kept Helton on the mound looking to close out the contest but Lincoln Prep scored quickly on an RBI double from Jaden Smith who advanced on base in all five of his plate appearances. Then Steven Clark’s third consecutive single brought home Smith setting up a one run game. With just one out, the Tigers tallied base runners across the board, and Reyes stepped up again, with a ground ball up the middle that shot into the outfield, bringing home two runs for the walk off winner.
The Lincoln Prep Tigers rallied in the final frame for an 11-10 win to extend the Hornets losing streak to four games. Chillicothe is still several games over .500 at 11-6 and will play their final game of the Pony Express Tournament on Thursday.