Republic’s Jared Hughes and Carthage’s Trason Vogt pitched nearly identical games Thursday, with one difference: Carthage managed to push three runs across the plate, and Republic didn’t. It resulted in a 3-0 Carthage win in a Central Ozark Conference matchup.
Other than the runs, the pitching lines for Hughes and Vogt were almost identical. Both went the distance (six innings for Hughes and seven for Vogt), both struck out seven and walked one, and both allowed just four hits. But Hughes allowed three runs to cross––two of them earned.
It was a game that could have gone the other way if Republic had caught a break at any of a few key moments. In the bottom of the fourth, a bad hop in the outfield helped Carthage stretch a leadoff single into a double. That runner scored later on an infield groundout.
In the fifth, Carthage put its first two runners on base with an infield single and a walk, then tried to sacrifice the runners over. Republic tried to get the force out at third base, and in a bang-bang play, the umpire ruled that Easton Prevo’s foot came off the bag before he had the ball. That play loaded the bases, and Hughes almost worked out of trouble, getting a strikeout and a force out at home before a seeing-eye single up the middle scored two runs, making the score 3-0.
In the top of the sixth, Republic got a leadoff double that nearly left the ballpark, hitting high on the wall, by Ryker Harrington. But the Tigers failed to take advantage.
Again in the seventh, Republic threatened but failed to score. Tyler Cavener led off with a double to center field. A one-out single by Clayton Crowley brought the tying run to the plate, but Prevo grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game.
Republic falls to 6-8. The Tigers play Bolivar Friday.
