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Titans’ Perfect Start To Baseball Season Ends At Boyle

The Harrodsburg Herald/Casey Roberts
Jackson Doughty dug into the batter’s box against Boyle County’s Kason Myers Monday night.

Casey Roberts
Herald Staff
Sports@harrodsburgherald.com

Head Coach Cody Christopher has his squad firing on all cylinders to start the season. The Mercer County Titans (6-0) remained perfect on the season after defeating the Somerset Briar Jumpers (2-6) on Friday,  8-3.

After a quiet first inning from both teams, Jeran Layton kicked off the Titans offense with an infield single, Layton was able to move himself into scoring position after an error by Somerset’s third baseman. Troy Diaz-Ward replaced Layton at second base as a courtesy runner. Andrew Sheperson managed to capitalize on the Briar Jumpers error by finding a gap in left field that scored Diaz-Ward and gave Mercer the early 1-0 lead.

On the ensuing at bat Jonathon Logdon scorched a ball into right field, moving Sheperson to third and advancing to second base. Mercer’s next batter Brayden Campbell lined out to the Somerset shortstop, but was credited with an RBI after Sheperson scampered home on the play. On a near mirror image of the previous one, Carter Devine hit a well struck ball directly at the shortstop, picking up an RBI and moving Mercer’s lead to 3-0.

In the bottom of the second inning, Layton sent Somerset packing on three straight outs, including two strikeouts. Colson Fogg helped the Titans jump out to a quick start in the top of the second inning, singling to left field. Fogg clearly had the Somerset pitcher worried about his base stealing ability, drawing two pickoff attempts in the following at bat. Fogg proved why the Briar Jumpers were concerned with his speed by swiping second base on the third pitch of the at bat. Fogg once again was able to showcase his speed after advancing to third base after a pitch in the dirt. Fogg finished the job by scoring on a fielder’s choice that pushed the Titans lead to 4-0.

The Briar Jumpers began to show signs of life in the bottom of the third inning.Somerset’s Cayden Cimala earned their first hit of the game via slow rolling bunt down the third base line. Isaiah Lewis followed up with a hard hit ball into left field. Canyon Sizemore kept the rally going for Somerset by singling into center field and scoring his team’s first run of the game, 4-1. Layton was able to shake off the string of hits and recorded three straight outs to minimize the damage.

After a Logdon single to kick off the fourth inning, the Titans played a bit of “small ball” Campbell advanced Logdon via sacrifice bunt, Logdon then took third by tagging up after a well hit ball from Devine. Andrew Tatum plated Logdon after a hard hit ground ball into center field, adding another run to Mercer’s lead. The Titans claimed a 6-1 lead after Fogg earned his second hit of the contest, scoring Tatum.

The sixth inning began slow for the Titans, but a two out double from Devine kept the inning alive. Good pitch awareness from Tatum helped earn him first base on four called balls. Fogg continued to have himself a day by earning his third hit of the game, this time a double that scored both Devine and Tatum.

For more of this story, check out this week’s issue of the Harrodsburg Herald. Click here to subscribe.

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