The Raiders were just four outs away from advancing to the 12th Region Championship game when the wheels came off and disaster struck.

The Somerset Briar Jumpers scored 9 runs in the sixth inning, all with two outs, to rout the Raiders by a final score of 13-3.

In clinging to a 2-0 lead throughout the first five innings, McCreary Central had used more than their share of luck in holding off the  Jumpers. But, that luck abruptly ran out and the Raiders not only saw their lead slip away, but also their chances at a Regional title.

The Raiders scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning and took control of the game early.

Darrell King led off by drawing a walk, stole second and advanced to third on a Colby Lawson ground-out. After Aaron Watts walked and stole second, King scored on a wild pitch, with Watts moving up to third base. Jacob Dixon hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Watts and giving the Raiders the 2-0 lead.  

Dixon, McCreary’s starting pitcher, struggled with his control from the outset, but with the help of his defense was able to get out of several jams in the early innings.

Through the first five frames Dixon had allowed only three Somerset hits, but he also gave up four walks and hit a batter, giving the Jumpers plenty of opportunities to break the game open.

Somerset stranded 8 runners over the first five innings, leaving the bases loaded in the first and getting runners on base in three more.

 Dixon struck out the first batter he faced in the top of the sixth, his 8th strikeout of the game, but gave up a single and a walk to the next two men he faced.

It seemed the Raiders might get out of another jam when Somerset’s Colby Hall hit a grounder to second. Dustin Losey fielded the ball and tossed to Darrell King at second for the force out. King fired the ball to first to try and complete the double play, but Hall beat the throw by half a step.

Back-to-back walks drove in the first Somerset run and cut the Raiders lead in half. Eric Manning then hit a grounder up the middle, driving in two runs and giving the Jumpers their first lead of the game.

Jared Price followed with a double to right, scoring two more runs and ending Dixon’s time on the mound.
Raider Coach Marc Taylor finally went to his bullpen, bringing in Travis Smith to hopefully put an end to the Somerset rally.

As the momentum switched to the Jumpers’ side, things went from bad to worse for the Raiders.
Price scored on a steal attempt and the Raiders committed two errors on the play, allowing him to cross the plate.
Two singles, another error, a hit batter and a walk led to three more Somerset runs before Smith got the final out of the inning on a pop-up to short.

The Jumpers sent 14 batters to the plate in the sixth, scoring 9 runs on 5 hits and three McCreary errors to take a 9-2 lead.

The Raiders came to bat in the bottom of an inning hoping for a rally of their own. Tyler Gregory and Dustin Losey reached base on back-to-back two-out walks, but Somerset pitcher J.P. Henderlight got King to ground out to first to end the threat.

Somerset added insult to injury in the top of the seventh.

Smith allowed a lead-off single and a hit batter before Coach Taylor replaced him with Jeremy Strunk who didn’t fare much better against the rejuvenated Somerset offense.

Strunk allowed four hits as the Jumpers added four more runs to the tally to take a 13-2 lead.
The Raiders managed to squeeze out another run in the bottom of the seventh after David Hayes drew a two out walk and scored on a Dixon triple, but it was too little, too late for McCreary.

“We were this close,” Taylor told the team after the game, holding his fingers an inch apart. “Jacob (Dixon) struggled, but we battled and got out of jams.”

“We have the makings of a real nice ball club next year. Our record is not indicative of how good we really are.”

Somerset will play the Danville Admirals in Thursday night’s Championship game. Danville defeated Southwestern 2-0 in 8 innings to advance Wednesday.