DUBLIN — Already the winningest team in school history, the Mount Vernon baseball team hoped to add to its lore in the Division I Regional Semifinals on Thursday afternoon. Unfortunately, it was a day the Yellow Jackets would like to forget.
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Facing Ohio Capital Conference Capital Division rival New Albany at Dublin Coffman High School, Mount Vernon jumped ahead first and then watched New Albany take control. A seventh-inning rally fell short as the Jackets lost, 4-2.
“We had people in scoring position a few times, but we couldn’t come up with that clutch hit,” said Mount Vernon coach Doug Savage. “We had the tying run at second base to end the game; that typifies this team. We were fighting in the last inning and got within two runs; a lot of teams would have gone three up, three down. We didn’t, and with one swing of the bat, we could have tied the game up. It just wasn’t to be today, it wasn’t to be.”
Mount Vernon scored first, taking a 1-0 lead with three straight singles in the top of the first inning. Robert Kane hit a one-out single off New Albany (20-12) starter Wynston McMartin, and Derek Baker followed with a single of his own. Kane then scored from second on an RBI single by Justin Edwards to make it a 1-0 game. McMartin got out of the inning with a fielder’s choice and a groundout.
The lead was short-lived, though, as the Eagles quickly went to work. Dan Britton led off with a single, and after a sacrifice bunt and a flyout, Britton came home after an error by pitcher Russell Doup to even the score at 1.
