Carrier Mills Legion in drivers' seat

The host team stayed alive and Carrier Mills moved into the driver's seat Monday at the District 24 American Legion baseball tournament in Carmi.

Behind the pitching of ace T.J. Varble, No. 3 seed Carrier Mills defeated top-seeded Cisne 7-5 in the third of three games at Eckerle Park to clinch a spot in Wednesday's championship round and a berth in next week's Fifth Division tourney at Marion (since the winner and runner-up of the tourney will advance).

The other spot will be determined by night's end.  Metropolis downed Fairfield 11-1 in seven innings and Carmi eliminated Gallatin County 18-8 in eight innings in Monday's first two games.  Carmi (15-12) and Metropolis will meet in another elimination game at 4 this afternoon. 

The winner will then play Cisne around 7 p.m. for the right to play Carrier Mills in the championship round at 4 p.m. Wednesday for the right to move on to the Fifth Division.

Carrier Mills 7, Cisne 5
Post 364 built a 6-2 lead, but then had to hang on at the end.

Michael Segler's two-run homer was part of Carrier Mills' early rallies, but Cisne battled back to shave the lead to 6-5 after eight innings.

In the Carrier Mills ninth, Nick Houseright scored an insurance run, when he walked and scored all the way from first base when Ryan Nichols' hit-and-run single to center field was kicked.

Varble finished strong, striking out the Cisne side in the ninth. He finished with six strikeouts.

Nichols had two hits for Carrier Mills (18-8), with Jordan Jackson, John Moseley, Segler, Tyson Frailey and b.J. Davis all had one.

Carrier Mills 18, Gallatin County 8
Andy Nelson and Kyle Hall each had four hits, and Keiston Williams pitched 5 1-3 strong innings for manager Pat Stewart's Carmi club in its 10-run victory Monday
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Williams fanned seven, walked three and allowed two earned runs on eight hits while securing the win.  Timmy Steed set Gallatin down in order in the eighth (fanning the last two batters he faced), then Nelson singled home Jade Money in the bottom of the frame to give Carmi the victory via the mercy rule.

Money was a late-inning replacement for shortstop Clay Kittinger, who was hit in the eye on a bad hop off a chopper by Caleb Kirsch.  Kittinger had to leave the game due to the injury.

Carmi scored in every inning except the first, plating four or more runs in three of the eight innings.  Gallatin got two in the first, four in the sixth and two in the seventh.  Each team was guilty of four fielding errors.

Nelson finished with three singles, a triple, three RBIs and two runs, while Hall had a double, three singles and three runs.

Zach Oglesby hit a grand slam for Carmi in the third and scored two runs.  Nash McVey also went deep, launching a solo shot in the sixth and adding a double, two RBIs and two runs.

Post 224 also got a double, a triple, three RBIs and a run from Kittinger; two hits and three runs from Orry Taylor; a hit, two RBIs and a run from Steed; a double, an RBI and a run each from Williams and Rhett Vaughan; and two runs from Money.

No. 9 hitter Taylor Vickery paced Gallatin County's offense with three hits and two runs.  Blake Luckett added a double, a single, two RBIs and a run; Brody Mitchell two singles and two runs; Kirsch a single, two RBIs and a run; Matt Millikan a two-run double; Ricky Stover a hit and a run; Quinton Drone a double; and Jared Hunt a run.

Millikan's two-run double gave Gallatin a 2-0 lead in the first and Jack Hall's club loaded the bases with two outs in the second before Williams relieved Nelson and got Millikan on a groundout to third.  Gallatin stranded a dozen base runners in the contest.

Kittinger had a three-run triple and Nelson a sacrifice fly in Carmi's four-run second inning, giving Post 224 the lead for good.  Oglesby's grand slam an inning later made it 8-2.

McVey had an RBI double in the fourth, while Vaughan smacked an RBI double and Nelson followed with an RBI triple in the fifth to make it 11-2.

Luckett got his team back in it with a ringing, two-run double to right in the sixth. 

Luckett later scored on an error and, on the same play, Stover stole home while Carmi was in the process of getting the ball back to the pitcher.  The four-run rally had Gallatin back within five at 11-6.

McVey hit a high homer over the fence in left in the bottom of the sixth to make it 12-6 before Gallatin scored two more in the seventh on two consecutive Carmi errors, a single by Luckett and Kirsch's two-run hit which deflected off Kittinger's eye.

Post 224 got five in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI double by Williams, a two-run single by Steed and an outfield error, which allowed two more runs to score.

Leading 17-8 in the bottom of the eight, Carmi got a break when Money reached on a dropped third strike and advanced to second when the throw was errant.  

He then moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Nelson's two-out single to center.