Published: July 18, 2009 12:17 am      

Kokomo survives shaky ninth to beat Cass County

It was a little too close for comfort.

That would be one way to sum up Kokomo Post 6’s victory over Cass County Friday night in the American Legion baseball sectional opener at CFD Investments Stadium in Highland Park. The Sixers squandered a three-run ninth inning lead by hitting one batter, walking two others, allowing a single and committing a two-run error before finally closing out the affair by a 6-5 margin.

Kokomo (15-13) advances to play Peru at noon today in the winners’ bracket of the double-elimination tourney.

“I was sweating bullets in the ninth inning,” said Post 6 manager Don Spall. “Cass County can put up runs, and I’ve seen them do it several times. I showed up thinking we were going to have a slugfest and I walked into a pitchers’ duel for most of the game.”

Spall ended up being right on both counts. Early on in the contest, offense of any kind was difficult to come by as Sixer ace Josh Copp held Cass County without a hit until the fifth inning. In the meantime, Cass County hurler Luke Zinsmaster was also fashioning a gem, holding Kokomo to just two runs over six innings while striking out 11.

“[Copp] did a good job of keeping us off balance and mixing up his pitches,” Cass County skipper David Sims said. “He was around the strike zone and we were making contact early, but we were just hitting it at people and not with a whole lot of authority.”

Post 6 broke through in a big way in the top half of the seventh inning upon Zinsmaster’s exit. The Sixers tallied four runs in the frame on three hits, with two runs each coming via singles by Jake Gorski and Mark Reel Jr.

“It looked to me like Zinsmaster got a little fatigued there late,” Spall said. “Once he was out of the game, we started moving the ball on them a little more.”

With Copp exiting the game after the seventh stanza, Cass County set about taking aim at Kokomo reliever Aaron Workman. After seeing a runner tagged out at home on a double allowed by Workman in the eighth inning, the Loganlanders succeeded at denting Workman’s ERA in the ninth.

Workman loaded the bases via the hit batsman, the single and one of two walks before being pulled in favor of Taylor Carpenter with two outs. Carpenter immediately walked Matt McKay to force home a run, and then coaxed Broc Conrad into a popup to short right field that scored two more after Post 6 lost it in the lights. Carpenter then retired Cam Samuels to end the game.

“Samuels hit the ball hard right at [Post 6 third baseman Devin Schacht],” Sims said. “I’ve seen guys make errors in that same situation. Credit Kokomo, they made plays when they had to.”

Gorski led Kokomo at 2-for-5 with a double and three RBIs. Right fielder Dylan Green hit a home run for Post 6, while Reel added two RBIs.

Samuels recorded a double and a single for Cass County, while McKay and Conrad drove in a run apiece in a losing effort.