Mustangs advance to state baseball semifinals

The McCracken County Mustangs are set to play in the semifinals of the Kentucky state high school baseball tournament after two wins over the weekend in Lexington.

McCracken County reached the final four of the tournament with a 3-1 win over Lyon County in the first round and a 9-4 win over South Warren in the second round Sunday. 

In the win over Lyon County, the Mustangs scored all three runs in the bottom of the second inning after the Lyons took a brief 1-0 lead.

The Mustangs ended the game with nine hits to the Lyons' three. Joshua Penrod finished with a game best 2-for-3 day at the plate with two RBI. 

Penrod got the start and win for the Mustangs going five and a third innings of work, allowing three hits, one earned run, while walking four and striking out five. 

The bats came alive for the Mustangs in their second round win over South Warren as they strung together 11 hits in the game. They took a commanding 8-0 lead into the sixth inning before South Warren was able to score. 

Brady Thompson led the Mustangs at the plate with a 2-for-4 performance while driving in two runs. Gage Dugan was also 2-for-4 with one RBI and Lucas Gagnon finished 2-for-3 with one RBI. The Mustangs also got hits from Will Fox, Lane Grace, Justin English, Brade Truitt and Kaden Kern. Kern drove in two runs on a double. 

Kern got the start and the win as he went six innings, allowed seven hits, two unearned runs, walked one and struck out six. 

The Mustangs (31-8) will face Pleasure Ridge Park (28-6)  on Friday.

The Mustangs are familiar with their next opponent. The two teams met in the regular season with McCracken County getting the 5-2 win over the 6th District champ Panthers on the road at Pleasure Ridge Park. 



PHOTO - STEVE FEENEY