Baseball: Enough In The End

Harrisburg freshman catcher Isaac Crabb had a lot to do with the Bulldogs' dramatic 6-5 eight-inning win over Marion in non-conference prep baseball Wednesday at the Crisp Sports Complex.<br />Crabb, who had a two-run double in the fifth inning, drove in the eventual winning run in the eighth after making a spectacular defensive play in the sixth - he leapt to snare a high relay throw and tagged out Jacob Schmid at the plate.<br />Crabb also squeezed the final pitch thrown by Christian Williams, an outside offering that sent Marion's Brandon Lynn flailing with the bases loaded.<br />Harrisburg is now 12-17 and Marion fell to 19-4. The Wildcats' other losses were to Mt. Vernon (twice) and Murphysboro.<br />Lynn, who is headed to Quincy University to play baseball, started on the mound and gave up the game's first two runs in the fourth after Marion committed a pair of errors. <br />The Wildcats scored four runs against Harrisburg's Dalton Lambert in the bottom half. Lambert walked two batters and plunked Hunter Milligan with the bases loaded, then Hez Goodman brought two in with a ringing single. The fourth run scored on a passed ball.<br />The Bulldogs tied it in the fifth on Crabb's double that brought in Will Holland and Presley Gauch, who both singled. They went in front in the sixth when Noah Mayer singled and scored on a bases-loaded walk issued by Cory Howard to Lambert.<br />Marion freshman Cavan Cameron relieved Howard and struck out Gauch to keep it a one-run game, then kept Harrisburg off the board in the seventh despite allowing singles to Crabb and Carson Burtis.<br />Marion tied it in the seventh with two outs on a single by freshman Josh Griffin. It brought in Justin Shadowens, who reached on a fielder's choice and made it to third on an overthrow when he stole second base.<br />Kameron Dover, a junior infielder, was pressed into pitching duty for just the third time this season in the eighth - the second time was a day earlier at Carbondale - and a walk to Holland led to singles by Gauch and Crabb that produced the go-ahead run.<br />In the bottom half, Bradley Marks singled with two outs and Goodman drew a walk. Williams then plunked Shadowens to load the bases, but Lynn struck out on a 1-2 pitch well out of the strike zone.<br />Gauch and Crabb both had three hits and both Burtis and Holland had two for the Bullodgs. Goodman had two hits for the Wildcats.<br />Marion's next game is Saturday against Belleville West, a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m., while Harrisburg hosts Goreville on Thursday and plays Friday at Hamilton County.