Republic baseball ended its longest losing streak in recent memory at home on Thursday, and they did it in style. The Tigers handed Fair Grove, the No. 1 team in Missouri Class 3, its fourth loss of the season behind a top-notch pitching performance from lefty Gabe Benjamin. The win ended an 11-game losing skid for the Tigers (8-21).
Benjamin went six innings, allowing three runs on nine hits while striking out six. He worked out of trouble repeatedly, stranding runners in the second and fourth innings to keep Republic within striking distance after Fair Grove jumped out to an early lead.
The Eagles (19-4) scored twice in the first with two outs, and a sacrifice fly in the third made it 3-0 and appeared to put Fair Grove in control.
Republic answered in the fourth. Brennan Overstreet and Landon Perkins reached to open the inning, and Maddox West drove in Overstreet with a single to left. Fisher Moore followed with a bunt single that led to a subsequent error, allowing two more runs to score and tying the game at three.
Landon Blankenship broke the tie in the fifth with a two-out triple to right that scored Cooper Thomas, after Thomas singled to lead off the inning. Overstreet’s sacrifice fly brought home Blankenship to make it 5-3.
Fair Grove put two runners on in the seventh with nobody out. But the Tigers got a force-out at third base on an attempted sacrifice, then catcher Nolan Lashley picked off a runner at second. West finished out the game by coaxing a pop-up to second baseman Cooper Thomas.
Blankenship went 1-for-2 with a walk, two runs scored and an RBI. West and Moore each drove in a run. Benjamin threw 101 pitches, 58 for strikes, in picking up the win.
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