Prairiland Patriots Take a Loss to the Mt. Vernon Tigers || Content Sponsored by: Weezy’s

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It took Prairiland a couple of innings to shake off the bye-week cobwebs, but by the time the Patriots had righted the ship, the Mt. Vernon Tigers were well on their way to an 8-1 district win.

Mt. Vernon solidified its hold on first place in district, improving to 9-2 on the season. The Patriots now find themselves at 5-4 in district play, and in a group of four teams within one game of each other in the standings, all jockeying for the final three playoff slots.

With its scheduled bye week last week, Prairiland had not played a game in 7 days. The time away from competitive action showed as the Patriots were misfiring in the early innings.

The Patriots, who were averaging less than 2 errors per game in 8 previous district contests, committed 6 miscues Tuesday night versus the Tigers, including 5 in the first 2 innings, which was more than they had made in their previous 6 games combined.

Mt. Vernon took advantage of three Patriots errors in the first inning and two more in the second and had jumped out to a 6-0 lead before the Patriots could get focused.

Caught up in the collateral damage from the Prairiland errors was starting pitcher Madox Yaross. The workhorse senior battled through 58 pitches in 1.2 innings of work and surrendered 6 runs, all of them unearned. Yaross walked just one batter and struck out 2.

After the second inning, the Patriots committed just one more error and allowed only 2 additional Tigers runs. Unfortunately, Prairiland could only manage 1 run of its own, that coming in the 6th inning when Mason Pusateri singled to left field, stole second base, and third, and came in to score when the attempted throw to third base skirted past the Mt. Vernon third baseman and into left field.

Tigers starting pitcher Mason Shipp challenged Prairiland hitters all night, challenging them to put the ball in play. Facing 27 batters, Shipp threw 17 first-pitch strikes. The aggressive Patriots batters made contact, but the Tigers defense was there to make the play.

Aside from Pusateri’s single, the Patriots managed just two more base hits for the game, a ground ball by Wyatt Moore through the left side, and a liner to left field from first baseman Fischer Morrison, that was almost robbed by a diving Dylan Clinton on what would have been a sensational catch.

The two teams go at it again Friday in a mid-day matchup set for 1:30 at Patriots Field in Pattonville.