Kaden Arr nearly went the distance.
But the Carthage junior right-hander got into a late-game jam before reaching his pitch count, forcing an exit.
Nevertheless, Arr’s stellar outing on the mound led Carthage to a 4-3 win over Ava on Saturday in prep baseball action at Joe Becker Stadium.
Arr was solid for 6 2/3 innings, scattering three hits and striking out seven while leading his team to its first victory of the 2021 campaign.
“Kaden Arr…what a start by him,” Tigers coach Luke Bordewick said. “That was 6 2/3 of really excellent pitching. He led us to a victory for sure. He was electric. His curveball was really good. I know he worked on it a lot during the offseason. He threw it early and often. It kept hitters off-balance and that was really nice for us.”
The game was scoreless in the bottom of the third when the Tigers manufactured a pair of runs — and they did it without recording a hit.
Caden Kabance walked and later scored from third on a double steal attempt. The throw home got away from Ava catcher Reece Adams, allowing Kaden Kralicek to take third. Kralicek charged home a few pitches later on a wild pitch for a 2-0 advantage.
“We preach being aggressive on the basepaths,” Bordewick said. “That’s what we want to do. We’ve got a lot of team speed, so we want to use it.”
Ava stranded the bases loaded in the fourth, as Arr worked out of trouble by striking out two straight batters before inducing an inning-ending fly ball off the bat of Creighton Regennitter.
“That was huge,” Bordewick said. “Baseball’s a game of momentum. That was a huge momentum swing for us.”
The Tigers added a single tally in the fourth.
Grant Collier singled up the middle in what was his team’s first hit of the game. Collier stole second and Clay Kinder’s sac bunt moved him to third. Collier scored on Rylee Barker’s RBI groundout.
The Bears stranded two in the sixth, as Arr fanned Bryce Dodson to get out of a jam.
Carthage added a key insurance run in the bottom of the sixth.
Kralicek singled to center, took second on Max Templeman’s sacrifice, stole third and later scored on an error.
Arr came back out for the seventh with a four-run lead.
After retiring the first batter of the inning, Arr walked two before Spencer Skyles reached on an error to load the bases. Next, two runs scored on a Carthage miscue in the field.
Arr induced a pop-up for the second out of the inning. But that’s when he had to exit after going over 105 pitches.
Kralicek took over on the mound and Ava’s Zach Miller smacked the first pitch he saw for an RBI single, trimming Carthage’s lead to 4-3.
But Kralicek struck out Andrew Dalton to secure the win.
The Tigers went 1-1 on the day, falling to Marshfield 6-2 in the opener.
“The first game didn’t go our way, but in the second game we fixed a lot of things that we needed to work on,” Bordewick said. “It feels good to win one.”
WIN NO. 1 FOR BORDEWICK
It was Bordewick’s first coaching victory as the man in charge of the Tigers (1-3).
“It’s not about me, it’s about the players,” said Bordewick, who is in his year as the program’s head coach after previously assisting Mike Godfrey. “The players did something… I didn’t do anything. It feels great to win obviously and I just feel great for the kids.”
MARSHFIELD 6, CARTHAGE 2
In Saturday morning’s clash, the Blue Jays plated a run in the first and three in the third to take a 4-0 lead.
The Tigers got a run back in the fourth, as Kanen Vogt reached on a dropped third strike and later scored on an error.
Marshfield added single tallies in the fifth and sixth innings to take a 6-1 lead.
The Tigers scored once in the bottom of the sixth when Kralicek singled to left and later scored on Templeman’s groundout. The hosts were unable to rally in the seventh.
Carthage recorded five hits, and Logan Carmickle had three of them. Kinder and Kralicek had one hit apiece.
Mason Utter struck out 10 batters and gave up four earned runs in the loss.
Jackson Vestal was the winning pitcher. He struck out 12, walked none and scattered five hits. Hayden Curley had three hits for the Blue Jays.
In the second game of the day, Ava defeated Marshfield 8-6.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Carthage is at McDonald County on Monday and at Nevada on Thursday.
The Tigers will host the annual Bill O’Dell Tournament from April 5-10.
