Landon Perkins hit his first career varsity home run Thursday evening, and that might not have been his most impressive play of the night. Perkins and the rest of the Tigers came alive after a three-game slide to top Aurora 11-1 in five innings to open the Carthage Festival.
In addition to his homer, Perkins sparkled on defense in right field. He made a diving catch near the foul line after a long run and tracked down another ball in the gap to rob Aurora of extra bases twice.
The home run felt good coming off the bat, Perkins said, but the defensive gems were a highlight for him. “When you feel it going into your glove in the outfield, that’s one of the best feelings ever,” Perkins said.
On the diving catch, Perkins said he initially read the ball as foul. He was probably one of the few people to recognize he had a chance to catch it, because it initially looked like it would be out of play — until a stiff wind blew it back into the field of play. “The wind was blowing like crazy,” he said. “I was like, oh crap, I gotta go get that.”
Nolan Lashley added a two-run homer in the third — even longer than Perkins’ blast — to cap a seven-run frame that blew the game open. Lashley finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
Preston McCracken went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a triple, driving in four runs.
Republic scored once in the first when McCracken doubled home Brennan Overstreet, who had walked. Aurora starter Max Holland settled down in the second, striking out two, but the Tigers erupted in the third. Cooper Thomas reached on an error and Overstreet walked. McCracken cleared the bases with a triple. Perkins followed with his two-run homer. Maddox West walked, Fisher Moore singled home West, and Lashley launched his two-run shot to make it 8-0.
Holland exited after 2 1/3 innings, having allowed seven runs on four hits with five walks and two strikeouts. Casen Brown relieved him and struck out three but gave up four runs on seven hits over 2 2/3 innings.
Aurora got its only run in the bottom of the third when Memphis Mooneyham singled and scored on a Max Holland single.
Greg Hicks doubled in a run in the fourth. In the fifth, Republic tacked on two more when Overstreet’s fielder’s choice and McCracken’s double each drove in a run. That allowed Overstreet to close out the run-rule game in the bottom of the fifth.
Overstreet overcame a slow start to earn the win on the mound, needing just 59 pitches to go the distance. He walked the first two batters of the game but didn’t walk another the rest of the way. He allowed one earned run on four hits, striking out five and walking two. He dropped his season earned run average to 2.70.
West reached base all four times — on two walks and two hit-by-pitches — and scored twice. Thomas went 2-for-4 and scored a run. Chase Connell went 1-for-3 with a run scored.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak and was a welcome turnaround after a 10-0, no-hit loss at Rogersville.
“To go from Rogersville to today is really nice,” Perkins said. “I think we had a bad game at Rogersville, and today we bounced back. I think we’re gonna keep bouncing back the whole weekend.”
Linescore
1 2 3 4 5 — R H E
Republic 1 0 7 1 2 — 11 11 0
Aurora 0 0 1 0 0 — 1 4 1
Nolan Lashley, Cooper Thomas, Brennan Overstreet, Carter Coggin, Preston McCracken, Landon Perkins, Maddox West, Greg Hicks, Fisher Moore, Chase Connell
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