BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Lafayette’s Brayden Richardson hit a walk-off grand slam as the host Hornets scored nine runs in the bottom of the seventh to defeat the Union County High School baseball team 11-7 on March 13.
The Tigers (8-4) scored the game’s first six runs, with the first two the result of a balk in the first and a solo home run by Foster Smith in the second.
Union took a 4-0 lead in the third. Devin Diggs hit a leadoff double, followed by singles from Jake Walker and Erick Lasseter. Lasseter’s hit scored Diggs. Trenton Klein reached on an error, which allowed Walker to score.
Jeffrey Brugh hit a double to lead off the fourth. After a strikeout, he advanced to third on a Walker ground out before scoring on a Lasseter double, putting the Tigers up 5-0.
The score became 6-0 when Kendall Carter hit a solo homer.
Starting pitcher Lasseter gave up one hit through the first four innings and kept the Hornets off the board until the fifth. With one out, Lafayette put a runner on by an error. Two runs then scored off a pair of singles.
Lasseter threw five innings, giving up four hits and striking out four.
Union went up 7-2 in the top of the seventh. Smith hit a leadoff single. Courtesy runner Evan Roberts advanced to second on a passed ball and moved to third on Carter’s sacrifice bunt. A Carter Whitehead single brought him home.
Lafayette drew two straight walks to lead off the bottom of the seventh before hitting two straight singles, with a run scoring on one. Noah Lamb drove in a run on a sacrifice fly before Ethan Tuten and Lathan Garrard hit back-to-back doubles. Tuten’s hit drove in two runs, while Garrard’s drove in one to tie the score at 7-7.
A walk and a single loaded the bases for Richardson, who drove a 3-1 pitch over the fence in right.
Lasseter batted 3 for 4, while Carter and Smith each went 2 for 3. Walker was 2 for 4.
The Tigers entered the game off an 8-3 win at Forest on March 10 in which Klein drove in four runs.
Klein hit a two-run double as part of a three-run first inning, which also included a run-scoring double hit by Walker.
It was tied at 3-3 going into the sixth. Lasseter reached on an error and later scored on another error.
A four-run seventh included a two-run single from Klein, who finished 2 for 3 at the plate.
Brugh and Walker each batted 2 for 4, with Walker driving in a run.
Lasseter had an RBI as well.
Starting pitcher Kacen Thomassen gave up two runs (one earned) and seven hits through four innings.
Smith threw the final three innings, allowing an unearned run and one hit, while striking out six.
Union hosts Baldwin on Friday, March 14, at 7 p.m. and the hosts Dunnellon on Tuesday, March 18, at 7 p.m. The Tigers host Trenton on Thursday, March 20, at 7 p.m. and St. Joseph Academy on Friday, March 21, at 7 p.m.
