With regional tournament play scheduled to begin May 25, the West Prairie/Southeastern baseball team is starting to heat up as the Cyclones defeated West Hancock 13-7 Tuesday in Hamilton.
It was the fifth victory in the last six games for WP/SE which improved its record to 10-10-1 for the season.
The win gave the Cyclones a sweep for the season against the Titans after handing West Hancock a 9-4 loss back on April 9.
On Tuesday, the Cyclones grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first against Titans’ starter Brayden Carter. West Hancock would get that run back in the bottom of the inning off of WP/SE freshman starter Holden Coplan to tie the game at 1-1.
The Cyclones came back in the third to score five runs and take a 6-1 lead and knock Carter out of the game.
Kyler Neumann came on in relief and WP/SE added to its lead with three runs in the fourth to make it 9-1.
West Hancock answered in the bottom of the fourth with three runs to make it 9-4 and force Coplan from the mound. Freshman Tyson Carnes came on in relief to stop the rally.
Logan Baker relieved Neumann to start the fifth for West Hancock and allowed one run to give WP/SE a 10-4 lead. Each team would exchange single runs in the fifth and sixth inning before the Cyclones scored twice in the seventh to extend their lead to 13-6.
The Titans would add a run in the bottom of the seventh but Carnes closed the door after that to preserve the victory.
Coplan pitched 3.2 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on just one hit. The freshman struck out eight but walked nine.
Carnes allowed three runs (one earned) on three hits in 3.1 innings of relief and struck out four while walking four.
WP/SE pounded out 14 hits in the game and was led by Austin Nelson who went 4-for-4 with four RBIs and one run scored.
Eli DeCounter also drove in four runs and finished 3-for-5 and Case Marlow was 2-for-2 with a home run and three runs scored.
Matt Whitman also had two hits and scored four runs for the Cyclones.
Layton Conkright led the Titans by going 2-for-2 with a home run and driving in three runs while scoring twice.
The loss dropped West Hancock to 7-19 for the season.
WP/SE was scheduled to play its regular season finale on Thursday when the Cyclones hosted Biggsville West Central in Colchester.
