The No. 9 Gehlen Catholic baseball team picked up a top-15 win in War Eagle Conference play on Thursday night taking down MMCRU by the score of 4-2 in Marcus.
The Jays were feeling good from a pitching standpoint knowing that they had their ace Brayden Horkey on the mound. They also were able to give him the run support he needed to win his outing. Head coach TJ Britton says it was nice to see both aspects of the game clicking.
Horkey worked through six tough innings to pick up his win allowing just two runs and four hits. Coach Britton says the outing was even more impressive considering the injury he has been nursing lately.
Neither side scored throughout the first three innings. When Gehlen Catholic broke through in the middle innings, their baserunners were largely due to free passes in the form of walks or errors. MMCRU head coach Cam Kuchel says that aspect was disappointing, but he was overall pleased with the effort from his team.
MMCRU pitched eighth-grader Ryan Dreckman who pitched well over his 5.1 innings on the mound. Coach Kuchel says he made some young mistakes in some high leverage situations that came back to haunt.
Those big moments came in the fifth and sixth innings with Owen Sievers driving in two with a two-out double for Gehlen in the fifth and Brayden Horkey driving in a run in the sixth. Coach Britton says he has seen the seniors step up all season in wanting to make the biggest impact on the game.
MMCRU falls to 10-3 overall and 5-3 in the War Eagle Conference. The Royals are dealing with a couple of injuries that are forcing some young athletes to step up. Coach Kuchel says the guys are going to have to fight through those injuries the rest of the season if they want to have success.
Gehlen Catholic runs their record to 17-3 overall and 8-0 in the War Eagle Conference. It is also Gehlen’s eighth win in a row. Coach Britton says this upcoming stretch of games with the Spalding Tournament this weekend is very important, and he is looking forward to the team attacking the challenge.
MMCRU is next in action on Monday in Remsen against George-Little Rock. Gehlen Catholic takes Vosburg Field in Granville on Saturday at 1:00 PM against Kingsley-Pierson on KLEM as part of the annual Spalding Catholic Tournament.
