Fulton resists Moberly in 14-9 win

The Fulton Hornets found the offensive production they needed to make up for their defensive lapses.

The Hornets accumulated 11 hits and overcame five errors in their 14-9 victory over the Moberly Spartans in the first round of the 22nd-annual Fulton Tournament on Tuesday night at the high school athletic complex.

The win was the third straight — and sixth in the last eight games — for Fulton. The Hornets improved to 11-7 overall and 6-5 in the North Central Missouri Conference.

“We came here and we did what we needed to do,” Fulton head coach John Brinkmann said. “It wasn’t pretty at all times, but we got the win and that’s all that matters.”

The Hornets lost to defending Class 3 state champion Fatima 6-4 in the semifinals later Tuesday night. Further details were not available at press time. Fulton will face NCMC rival Mexico for third place at 4 p.m. Friday at the high school.

Moberly benefitted from one of the Hornets’ miscues in the bottom of the first inning. Junior first baseman Drake Davidson walked with two outs and went to second on junior starter Josh Watson’s single to right. Freshman third baseman Braedan Wetrich then reached on a throwing error, allowing Davidson to score from second.

Fulton began to take control when it produced three runs in the top of the second. Senior right fielder Trenton Clines drew a leadoff walk, stole second and came around to score when senior left fielder Zach Franklin was safe on an error.

Franklin went to second on a single to left by junior catcher Isaiah Pani, who was replaced by sophomore courtesy runner Solomon Huff. Franklin was then called out for interference when he was hit by junior second baseman Devan Hudson’s grounder.

Huff and Hudson executed a double steal, and junior center fielder Josh Quick coaxed a two-out walk to load the bases. Junior starter Luke Gray delivered by ripping a double to center, scoring Huff and Hudson to extend the Hornets’ lead to 3-1.

“I thought we did the right things at the plate,” Brinkmann said. “We didn’t get deep into counts, we didn’t get down with two strikes. I thought we were agressive early and Luke’s hitting the ball well.

“He’s been hitting it well all year. … We just did things right offensively today and if we do that while pitching and playing defense like I know we can, we’re capable of winning this tournament and going far in districts.”

Junior shortstop Devin Masek led off Fulton’s third with a single and went to second on a fielder’s choice. Clines received a one-out walk and Franklin drove in Masek with a single to right.

Clines moved to third on a wild pitch and Franklin stole second. Clines then scored on a second wild pitch in the same at-bat as Pani drew a walk. Huff went in for Pani again, stole second and Franklin dashed home when the throw went into center field. Huff moved to third on a wild pitch and then scored when Hudson was safe on a two-out error to make it 7-1.

The Hornets added a run in the fourth and three more in the fifth to open up a 10-run lead. With one out in the Spartans’ half of the fifth, Gray hit senior second baseman Zach Mattox and Davidson in back-to-back at-bats. Watson crushed a three-run home run to left to cut into Fulton’s advantage.

“They (Moberly) are a well-coached team, they aren’t going to quit and we knew that,” Brinkmann said. “We just have to keep playing hard all seven innings and make sure that we don’t let that happen again.”

The Hornets stretched their lead to 14-4 by coming up with three runs in the seventh, but committed three of their five errors in the bottom of the inning as Moberly put up five runs for the final outcome.

“It’s just one of those things where we just made errors,” Brinkmann said. “I don’t expect it to happen again, the guys who made them are solid defensively and I have confidence in them.”

Gray went 3-for-4, while Hudson finished 2-for-2 and Pani was 2-for-3.

Gray (3-1) went 4 1/3 innings to earn the win, giving up four runs — three earned — on three hits. He struck out four and walked three.

“I thought we swung the bats real well and we kept a good approach at the plate ,” Brinkmann said. “Offensively, I thought we did our job. Defensively, we didn’t help our pitchers out much.

“We walked a few guys but we didn’t make plays behind them. We’ll get it — we didn’t pitch bad, we just have to clean up a few things.”