Tigers’ Progress on Display in Win at Marshfield

Republic blew a lead, but didn’t let that blow the game. Immediately after Marshfield scored two runs to tie the score 5-5 in the bottom of the fourth inning, Republic responded with five more runs of its own, taking a 10-5 lead, and holding on for a 10-7 win on the road.

“When tied it up the bottom of the fifth, that’s a situation where in the past we may have tightened up a little bit if things would have went south,” says coach Curt Plotner. “And to hang a five-spot off their best kid on the mound was a huge confidence builder for our guys.”

Marshfield had lost only four games all season before Wednesday, and had not lost by more than a run all year. Plotner says Republic’s performance was a manifestation of the progress he’s been seeing this year.

“The kids need the wins to see the progress. (Coach) Scott (McGee) at Willard last night talked to us for 20 minutes after the game and just said, ‘Hey, I was super impressed with your kids and what they’ve been doing,” Plotner says. “It’s the kids who need to hear those types of things, so we talked about that a little bit before the game.

“We did so many things tonight that we’ve been working on in the last three months that manifested themselves: throwing behind on the sac bunt and getting the out at second; tagging up on the deep fly ball with everybody, not just the guy on third, so all those guys advanced, and a contact play was the next thing. So it’s coming together nicely,” Plotner says.

The Tigers’ five-run inning started with a walk to Tyler Cavener. Jacob Crosswhite reached on an error, and Nick Rose laid down a bunt along the third base line that rolled to a stop, giving him an infield single and loading the bases. Clayton Crowley followed with an RBI single and A.J. Calhoon hit a deep sacrifice fly to score Crosswhite. Jaden Duvall reached on an error, Easton Prevo singled, and Cameron Beck doubled to the fence in right center to clear the bases.

Clayton Crowley picked up the win for Republic. Tim McWilliams came in to pick up the save.

The win helped Republic rebound from a 4-1 loss at Willard Tuesday. The Tigers’ record is now 7-11. They host Ozark Thursday.

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