Four-Run Inning Propels Eagles Past Montgomery County

Sullivan scored four runs in the fifth inning Wednesday, cruising to a 4-1 win over Montgomery County in the Four Rivers Classic.

Garrett Juergens went the distance for the Eagles (1-1) in his varsity debut. The junior righty scattered six hits, half of which never left the infield. He struck out five, walked one and hit a batter while keeping his pitch count at 88.

Jacob Miller and Austin Frye each had a pair of hits. Miller delivered a pair of doubles. Both players delivered RBIs in the fifth.

Landon Hoffman, Mike Kraus, Cody McKinney and Lucas Cottrell all added hits. Ty Wheeler drew two walks.

Sullivan batted around in the fifth as they overcame a 1-0 deficit. They put runners on in the first four innings, but couldn’t cash in against Montgomery County’s Colin Parrish. Parrish stranded two runners in the first, doubled up the Eagles to end the second and pitched around one-out hits in the third and fourth.

Juergens pitched out of trouble in the second when Tristan Camp went from first to third on a groundout, outrunning McKinney to the bag. He picked up a strikeout and groundout to escape the inning.

In the third, the Wildcats had two quick outs before Johnny Shaw drove a double into the left field gap. Ethan Abercrombie got just enough of an inside pitch to float it to left and score Shaw for a 1-0 Montgomery County lead. Abercrombie reached second and went to third on a passed ball, but Juergens got out of the inning without more damage.

The Wildcats threatened again in the fourth on a pair of infield singles. The inning ended with runners stranded on the corners.

Sullivan finally got their bats going. Cottrell ripped a single, followed by a sacrifice bunt from Derek Evans. Miller laced a double down the third base line to score Cottrell and tie the game at 1-1.

Hoffman continued the rally by lofting a single into shallow left, scoring Miller for a 2-1 lead. After a passed ball moved Hoffman to second, Frye poked an opposite field single to right. Another passed ball plus a wild pitch advanced Frye to third. He scored when Kraus hit a sinking liner to right for a 4-1 lead.

Montgomery County had no response against Juergens. Carson Parker’s bloop single with two outs in the sixth went nowhere after Juergens overpowered Lucas Carter for a strikeout. In the seventh, the Wildcats never got the ball out of the infield. A tapper from Blake Yelton to Juergens, a strikeout of Aubrey Nelson and another grounder back to the mound finished off Sullivan’s first victory of the season.