Carl Junction visited Aurora Tuesday night and a Big 8 Conference battle ensued, as the final decision, a Carl Junction 6-3 win, came down to the final Bulldogs at-bat.
Through six innings of play, both Aurora and Carl Junction each had three runs on the scoreboard and three base hits each in the game. But two Houn' Dawg errors in the top of the seventh proved costly, as three runs crossed home plate for Carl Junction. The Bulldogs made that stick, as they held Aurora's rally attempt at-bay in the bottom of the inning to take the conference win.
Carl Junction got on board first in the top of the first inning when the first two batters reached base without a base hit, as Aurora started the contest with an error and a walk. A base hit by senior Zach Beyer scored the two runs with one out.
Aurora wasn't rattled though, as they plated three runs in the bottom of the first, themselves. Billy Meredith led of fthe Houn's half of the first inning with a walk, followed by a single by Kaleb Baker that scored Meredith, who had stolen second base. Eric Shoenberger and Patrick Wheeler then walked and scored on a base knock from freshman Zac Shoemaker to give the Houn's the early 3-2 edge.
The Bulldogs would tie it up at 3-3 in the top of the third with a double by Kurtlin Hulette that plated Josh Petty.
And the story throughout the middle of this contest was the pitching from both teams.
Aurora's Kage Etherton pitched six solid innings, giving up just three hits and three runs, only one of those earned. He struck out five Bulldogs along the way, as well.
For Carl Junction, Brandon Harnar got the start but lasted just two-thirds of an inning and was quickly replaced by Beyer. Beyer, who picked up the win, then went 6 and 1/3 innings, giving up just two hits while striking out seven batters from Aurora.
"We saw some release issues with Brandon, so we thought we should make the switch pretty quickly," explained Carl Junction head coach Flave Darnell.
"Kage's effort tonight was phenomenal," said Aurora head baseball coach James Hoffman. "If more of our kids did that, we'd be unbeatable. Every time he got in any kind of bind, he fought his way through it. He was a real trooper for us out there tonight."
The game remained knotted at 3-3 until the seventh inning, when Carl Junction scored three runs on just one base hit to secure the win.
"We played evenly with them for six innings," said Hoffman. "Our effort was there for six innings. It has to be there for seven."
Hulette's double was the only extra-base hit for the Bulldogs. Beyer, Nate Landas and Justice Hylton added singles.
Aurora was led offensively by Shoemaker's single and two RBIs. Freshman Payton Evans added a double and a single for Aurora.
Aurora drops to 1-8 on the season and will play East Newton on Thursday.
