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PREP BASEBALL: Tigers take out Huskies to claim Big South crown

Photo by Sam Thiel Jake Hess is mobbed by his teammates after delivering the game-winning base hit against Jackson County Central on Monday night. The Tigers defeated the Huskies 4-3 to claim the Big South Conference title.

MARSHALL – The Marshall and Jackson County Central baseball teams were originally set to battle for the Big South Conference title on Saturday afternoon. When Mother Nature intervened with a downpour, the two teams were forced to wait.

That wait lasted until Monday night, when the two teams squared off for a 6 p.m. tilt. The conference foes didn’t disappoint, with the game going down to the final inning to be decided. And thanks to a final inning comeback, the Tigers took home the conference crown with a 4-3 victory in walk-off fashion capped off by an infield single from Jake Hess.

With Marshall down 3-2 heading into their final at-bat, the Tigers relied on some key hitting to earn the victory. After a leadoff walk, Mason Penske connected on an infield single to put runners on first and second with no outs. Ryan VanMoer would then advance the runners with a sacrifice fly before Dylan Criquet-Danielson drew a walk to load the bases.

Logan Tomasek then stepped up and recorded an infield single to tie the game at 3-3. With the game tied and the winning run just 90 feet away, Hess came up to the plate and hit a slow roller to the infield, but beat the throw to first, propelling the Tigers to a walk-off win.

Hess said he just wanted to put the ball in play and give his team a chance to get across home plate for the game-winning run.

“I saw that the bases were loaded and coach called my name even though I wasn’t even in the game,” Hess said. “My mentality was just to put the ball in play somewhere either to the right or in the air and we would win the conference.”

The Tigers found their backs against the wall early to start, with JCC getting a pair of runs in the top of the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. The Huskies would later add another run in the top of the third to push it to 3-0.

Marshall wouldn’t go away, however, as Criquet-Danielson got the Tigers on the board with a solo shot to left field to cut it to 3-1. The senior centerfielder then made it 3-2 an inning later with an RBI single, paving the way for the late-inning dramatics.

Criquet-Danielson led the way for the Tigers with a pair of hits and two RBIs while Hess, Penske and Tomasek all recorded a hit.

Hess said their key on the offensive end was making sure they made a play for the next guy up and capitalize on the basepaths.

“On the offensive end, I would say that as a team we had a good mentality and knew that we had to get on base for the next guy and that we could do the rest on the basepaths,” Hess said.

Hess also earned the victory on the hill for Marshall. Marshall coach Chace Pollock said he was pleased with Hess’ outing on the mound.

“I thought Jake did a nice job of commanding the bottom of the strike zone. There were times he left some pitches up but he did a lot better job of getting some downward plane and living in the bottom of the zone.”

The win was also the first time in three years that Marshall has won the Big South Conference. Pollock said they are going to enjoy the win before they take on Windom Area today at 5 p.m.

“This is the first time in three years that we’ve won it so we’ll enjoy it and tomorrow is a new day and we’ll get ready for Windom,” Pollock said.

Marshall 4, JCC 3

JCC 201 000 0 — 3 8 2

Marshall 000 110 2 — 4 6 0

HITTING: Marshall (Criquet-Danielson 2 H, HR, 2 RBI; Penske 1 H; Tomasek 1 H; Hess 1 H).

PITCHING (IP-H-R-ER-BB-SO): Marshall (No pitching stats were available at press time).

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