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Defending state champion Malden edges East Prairie 5-4 in C3D1 baseball final
Malden celebrates with their first-place plaque after defeating East Prairie 5-4 in the Class 3, District 1 baseball championship game Tuesday at Hillhouse Park in Charleston.
CHARLESTON, Mo – To be the best you have to beat the best.
So far this postseason nobody’s been able to do that as defending Class 3 state champion Malden continues to find ways to win.
Tuesday was the latest example as the top-seeded Green Wave won their second one-run game in as many days, defeating second-seeded East Prairie 5-4 for the Class 3, District 1 title.
Malden third baseman Shay Amoss congratulates pitcher Tye Miller after their team secured the final out against East Prairie Tuesday in the Class 3, District 1 Tournament championship game at Hillhouse Park in Charleston.
“It feels good,” Malden head coach Tim Harmon said of his team’s second-straight district crown. “Nobody expected us to win much after what we lost last year. We had a good group of seniors and it’s just nice to get back and win the district title and give ourselves a chance to keep playing.”
Malden moved over from District 2 to District 1 this year and grabbed the top seed despite a sub .500 record at the end of the regular season.
The first round bye that came with it proved to be crucial for the Green Wave as they were able to get through the tournament by using just their two top arms, freshman Bladen Perry and senior Tye Miller.
Miller, the team’s ace, came in to pitch the seventh and earn the win in Monday’s 6-5 walk-off thriller against Charleston.
He came back on Tuesday and gave Malden the complete game effort they needed to earn his second ‘W” in as many days.
With his pitch count creeping upward the senior couldn’t have cut it any closer to forcing his team to go to another arm to finish the seventh inning in a one-run game.
Facing the bottom of the Eagles’ order, Miller struck out the first two batters he faced to open the seventh before sealing the game and district title by coaxing the No. 9 hitter into a pop up on the infield.
Third baseman Shay Amoss and shortstop Dalton Lewis converged on the ball before Amoss took charge and secured the ball, sending Malden’s bench rushing onto the field in celebration.
“That was his last hitter right there,” Harmon said of Miller reaching his pitch limit. “It was one of them things where he walks him or doesn’t get him out then we have to bring a freshman in. Who knows in this game.
“They have the top of the lineup up, so that was important getting the first guy and the second. We were going right after that last guy. Just fastballs right at him.”
Miller finished the game allowing four runs, three earned, on four hits and a walk while fanning 11, including six in the first two innings.
His counterpart, East Prairie freshman Jase Aycock, took the loss. He went five innings, striking out four and giving up five runs, three earned, on four hits and four walks.
“If he wanted to be successful today he had to come in and throw strikes,” East Prairie head coach Dalton Golightly said. “That’s what he did and let our defense work. We just didn’t make the plays down the stretch when we needed to.”
As Golightly alluded to, mistakes in the field helped fuel both Malden rallies in the game.
After a two-out single from Miller broke up a scoreless game in the bottom of the second, plating two runs, the Eagles saw a third come in when Miller scored on a passed ball.
The dagger, however, came in the fifth following a three-run outburst by East Prairie earlier in the contest to tie the game.
Aycock hit leadoff hitter Gavin Bristow before inducing a ground ball to the third baseman from Amoss.
The throw to first base got past the first baseman, allowing Bristow to score the go-ahead run and put Amoss at third by the end of the play.
A line drive single from Ethan Campbell with two outs plated Amoss for what became a crucial insurance run, making it 5-3.
“If you want to beat a team like Malden, who’s had success in the past winning state last year, you have to make every play,” Golightly said. “Especially in this kind of situation. Unfortunately for us, it didn’t happen.”
East Prairie nearly tied things up in the sixth when Carson Aycock was hit by a pitch before being driven in on a deep shot to left field from Lane Moody.
A strikeout and a line out to the pitcher left the tying runner stranded at second base to end the frame.
Miller ended the night retiring the final five Eagles to step tot he plate after Moody’s double.
“Before the game, he said his arm didn’t feel real good,” Harmon said of Moody. “His was real sharp, though, I thought. He hit spots all day and worked the outside corner quite a bit.
“The only bad pitch he made, in my opinion, was the one (Moody) almost hit out. I thought it was gone when he hit it. He left it over the middle of the plate and the kid got a good swing on it.”
Four of Malden’s five runs came with two outs in an inning.
East Prairie’s three-run rally in the third to tie the game came after back-to-back outs.
Garrison Scott and Jack Scruggs both tripled for the Eagles with Moody’s double representing the team’s third extra-base hit. Carson Aycock singled and reached base twice while driving in two runs.
The bottom of the order hurt East Prairie with the fifth through ninth hitters going a combined 1 for 15 on the game.
“I told them before the game we weren't even supposed to be here,” Golightly said. “We’ve been resilient all year long. Four games in we lost one of our best players (Derez Tipler) to a broken hand and we still have one of our better seasons in a long time.”
“Today Malden jumped out and got a three-spot on us and the very next innings we come back and put three on the board. It just shows the kind of kids we have and the people they are for them to be able to do that.”
Malden (15-14) will host a Class 3 state sectional Monday.
No. 1 Malden 5, No. 2 East Prairie 4
East Prairie 003 001 0 - 4 4 1
Malden 030 020 x - 5 4 1
WP – Tye Miller. LP – Jase Aycock. 3B – Garrison Scott (EP), Jack Scruggs (EP). 2B –Lane Moody (EP).