BRANSON, Mo. — The Carthage Tigers defeated the Branson Pirates behind a solid offensive performance by Landon West, who collected three hits in four at bats and scored twice, in the 7-6 win on the road Monday. West singled in the first inning, tripled in the third inning and singled in the sixth inning.
Carthage scored one run in the first and Branson answered with a run in the bottom half of the first. Carthage took the lead again in the top of the second when Zach Hoenshell singled, scoring one run, to give Carthage Varsity Tigers the edge, 2-1.
The Tigers added to their early lead in the top of the third inning after Jordan Brunnert singled to the left side of the infield, and Blayne Lilienkamp grounded out, each scoring one run.
Branson tied the game 4-4 in the bottom of the fourth on a solo home run and a run-scoring single.
Carthage captured the lead again, 6-4, in the top of the fifth after Branson committed an error, which led to Brunnert scoring and Lilienkamp singled down the left field line to score Tate Nichols.
“Offensively we executed at a high level,” Carthage Head Coach Kevin Burgi said. “We had several huge situational at bats that helped us score runs.”
Landon Bland started on the mound for the Tigers. Bland gave up five hits and three runs over three innings, striking out two and walking none. Cooper Jackson, Carson Kinder, and Nolan Brown each appeared in relief for Carthage. Jackson earned the win and Carson Kinder got the save.
Lilienkamp provided pop in the middle of the lineup, and led Carthage Varsity Tigers with two RBI. Lilienkamp went 2-for-3 on the day. Carthage didn’t commit a single error in the field.
“We are very happy about the way we played, it was a clean game defensively,” Burgi said. “From a pitching perspective all four arms came in and did a great job. This was a total team win. We ended up playing 16 guys and they all did a great job.”
Carthage (7-2) returns home for a game against Kickapoo Tuesday.
