Hampton won a thriller to open the Three Rivers Baseball Tournament but was unable to rally in the second game of the evening.
The No. 6 Bulldogs held off No. 3 South Greene for a 6-5 victory in the opening round of the Chuckey-Doak pod of the District 1-3A Tournament, but was unable to answer a big third inning by the host and No. 1 Black Knights in a 14-4 decision in the winner’s bracket final.
Hampton will take on South Greene in a Thursday evening elimination game with the winner advancing to take on Chuckey-Doak in the pod final. The winner of the Hampton and South Greene contest must beat Chuckey-Doak twice to advance to the championship game.
Against South Greene, it was a thriller.
The Bulldogs came out of the gate quickly with four straight walks that allowed Cade Nelson to score the game’s first run and load the bases with no outs. After two quick outs, Chase Davenport scored after stealing home plate, and Jaden Kuhn and Elisha Henson scored off a throwing error to give Hampton a 4-0 lead after the opening frame.
The Rebels were able to get a run back in the bottom of the first.
The Bulldogs got back on the board in the top of the second as Gabriel Lyons opened the frame with a single and then scored off an SG error. Nelson scored after Davenport put the ball in play to push the HHS lead to 6-1.
South Greene countered with two runs in the bottom of the second to trim the Hampton lead to 6-3.
Neither team was able to get on the board in the third or fourth innings, and South Greene added a run in the fifth and one in the sixth to close the deficit.
After Hampton was unable to get anything going in the top of the seventh, Seth Franklin hit a single to open the home side of the frame for the Rebels.
The game, however, moved into a lightning delay after the Franklin single. Once the game resumed, Kuhn recorded a strikeout on the mound, but SG got the winning run on base in the next at-bat.
Hampton secured the win after picking off the runner at first and then fielding a ground out.
Kuhn went 2-for-3 at the plate, while Gilbert and Lyons each had a single. Henson and Davenport recorded an RBI apiece.
Henson picked up the win on the mound as he went six innings and allowed just two earned runs on nine hits with six strikeouts.
In the winner’s bracket final, Hampton jumped out early as Lyons hit a single that allowed Bryce Fagan to score, and Nelson pushed Cash Royston across homeplate to give HHS a 2-0 lead.
Chuckey-Doak, however, answered with 11 runs in the third and two more in the fourth to take a 13-2 lead going to the fifth.
Hampton continued to battle as Davenport scored after Henson put the ball in play while Kuhn scored off a Fagan single. However, the Bulldogs were unable to keep the inning going.
Kuhn went 3-for-3 for Hampton. Fagan had two hits and an RBI, while Lyons had a hit and an RBI. Henson and Nelson each added an RBI.
Landon Buchanan and Davenport both had a hit.
