The Morris Eagle varsity baseball team found themselves on the losing end of a pair of District 3A-5 meetings earlier this week with the Sperry Pirates.
The Morris Eagle varsity baseball team found themselves on the losing end of a pair of District 3A-5 meetings earlier this week with the Sperry Pirates.
The Eagles were doubled up 8-4 in Monday’s district battle at Sperry, then were on the short end of a 12-7 outcome in Tuesday’s showdown in Morris.
The doubleheader loss to Sperry puts the Morris diamond squad sixth overall in the district standings at 3-8 with the Eagles finishing district play Thursday against Prague.
In Monday’s district meeting in Sperry, the host Pirates opened the scoring with five runs in the bottom of the first.
After a scoreless second, the Eagles cut the deficit to two, 5-3, with three runs in the top of the third.
Sperry made it a 6-3 contest with a run in the bottom of the fourth, while Morris tallied its final run in the top of the fifth for a 6-4 deficit.
The host Pirates tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth, then held the Eagles off the scoreboard in the top of the seventh to hand the Morris squad the 8-4 setback.
Koen Burgess got the start on the mound for the Eagles in the district battle and was saddled with the pitching loss. Burgess worked five-plus innings, allowing seven runs on five hits with five strikeouts, three walks, and two hit batters.
Trey Daniels worked one inning of relief in the sixth and gave up one run on one hit, hitting a batter.
The Morris offense was limited to just four hits in the district contest. The four Eagle base hits came on a single by Burgess, triple by Gage Adkins, RBI single by Daniels, and 2-run single by James Berry.
In Tuesday’s district showdown in Morris, both teams tallied a run in their half of the first, while Sperry took a 2-1 advantage with a run in the top of the second.
Morris knotted the score at 2-2 with a run in the bottom of the third.
The visitors plated a pair of runs in the top of the fourth then added five more in the fifth for a 9-2 advantage.
The Eagles cut the deficit to two, 9-7, with five runs in the bottom of the sixth, while Sperry countered with three runs in the top of the seventh for a 5-run margin.
The Morris squad was unable to tally any runs in the bottom of the seventh to end up on the short end of a 12-7 decision.
James Berry was saddled with the pitching loss for the Eagles on Tuesday, allowing 10 runs on seven hits with two walks and two hit batters in five innings of work.
Gage Adkins worked the final innings in relief for Morris, giving up three runs on four hits, striking out three and hitting two.
Trey Daniels was the top hitter for the Eagles on Tuesday, going 2 for 4 with a single, double, and RBI.
The other Morris base hits against Sperry came on singles by Berry and Junior Walls, RBI singles by Wyatt Clark and Robert Woods, and an RBI double by Koen Burgess.
--- Monday, April 17 Sperry 8, Morris 4
Morris:0-0-3-0-1-0-0 4-4-8 Sperry:5-0-0-1-0-2-x 8-6-3 WP: Angielski LP: Koen Burgess HR: None --- Tuesday, April 18 Sperry 12, Morris 7
Sperry-1-1-0-2-5-0-3 12 - 11 - 6 Morris-1-0-1-0-0-5-0 7 - 7 -8 WP: Angielski LP: James Berry HR: None