Tigers Drop Season Opener To Cutter-Morning Star

BY EASTON LEONARD –

Friday afternoon, March 10th, the Acorn Tiger baseball team opened up their season at home against the Eagles of Cutter-Morning Star.

Nick Lyle earned the starting pitching job for the Tigers, as he started on the hill for Acorn. Cutter-Morning Star’s first two batters struck out looking against Lyle before Acorn allowed a single on a fly ball to right field. Lyle then struck out the fourth batter of the inning to keep the Eagles scoreless.

Peyton Brewer started on the mound for the Eagles of Cutter-Morning Star and struck out the first batter he saw. Following, Acorn’s two hole hitter singled on a line drive to center field, and stole second base a few pitches later. However, the Eagles struck out the third and fourth batters of Acorn’s lineup to keep the game scoreless and complete the first inning of play.

In Lyle’s second inning of work, he allowed the first two batters to reach before the Eagles singled to left field to score one run and put runners on the corners. A few pitches later, the Tigers allowed one more run to score on a passed ball. Cutter-Morning Star’s fourth batter drew a walk, then stole second on the next pitch to move runners to second and third. Daniel Brito then doubled on a liner to right field for the Eagles, scoring two more runners. The Eagles sixth batter of the inning hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Cutter-Morning Star’s fifth and final run of the inning. Lyle was able to escape the inning on a few groundouts. The score was 5-0 in favor of the Eagles after one and a half innings.

The Tigers went down one-two-three in the bottom of the second, as Brewer earned one groundout and struck out two batters in the inning. He held Cutter-Morning Star’s lead to 5-0 after two innings.

Cutter-Morning Star’s lead-off hitter in the third inning walked, then reach third on a few stolen bases. Lyle then struck out a batter, walked a batter, gave up a run, and walked one more batter. The Eagles then grounded out to shortstop, scoring one more run, then reached base on a ground ball to second base, scoring another run. Cutter-Morning Star’s seventh batter of the inning drew yet another walk from Acorn, then their eighth batter drove in one run on a line drive single to center field. Lyle and the Acorn Tigers got out of the inning on a groundout to third, after allowing the Eagles to add on five runs. Going into the bottom half of the third inning, the score was 10-0.

Acorn’s first batter of the bottom of the third reached third base on a ground ball that went under the shortstops glove. The runner later stole second base as the second batter struck out. Before Nick Lyle doubled on a fly ball to center field, the Tigers base runner at second was thrown out trying to steal third base. Following Lyle’s double, number two for the Tigers singled on a blooper to shortstop, putting runners at first and second. Both runners advanced to second and third, but Acorn flew out to center to end the inning, with the score 10-0 in favor of the Eagles.

In the fourth inning, Acorn sent out Josh Staggs to pitch. The first Eagle batter of the inning reached base on a ground ball off of the shortstop. The runner stole second a few pitches later, but Staggs was able to strike out the second batter he faced. Before Staggs struck out the third batter of the inning, the Eagles were able to score a run after a few stolen bases and a passed ball. To end the top of the third, Acorn got number 16 for Cutter-Morning Star to ground out to third base.

The first two Tiger batters in the bottom of the fourth struck out, but number 33 for Acorn was able to single on a pop up to first base. Following the pop up single, Acorn’s fourth hitter of the inning grounded out to second base, making the score 11-0 Cutter-Morning Star after four complete innings.

Cutter-Morning Star’s first batter in the fifth inning flied out to left field, but their second batter was able to reach base on a dropped pop up by the shortstop. After a few stolen bases and a walk, the Eagles were threatening to score again with runners on the corners. Staggs struck out the fourth Eagle batter of the inning, but the next batter singled on a fly ball to center field, scoring one run. During the next at-bat, the Eagles scored another run after a pick-off throw to first base. The Tigers got the seventh batter of the inning to ground out to the pitcher, to end the top of the fifth.

Acorn’s first batter of the bottom of the fifth singled on a pop up into short right center field, but the Tigers then fouled out, struck out, and grounded out to second. Ending the game with a final score of 13-0 in favor of the Cutter-Morning Star Eagles.

On Friday night as well, the Acorn Lady Tigers softball team defeated the Cutter-Morning Star Lady Eagles by a score of 15-0.

The Acorn Tigers baseball game scheduled for Monday night at Two Rivers was canceled, and as of now Acorn’s next baseball and softball games will be March 28th at Kirby High School.

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