By Ray Sarvis
FPS Correspondent
The Malvern baseball team played back-to-back-to-back games this week, and if that wasn’t tough enough, the Hornets’ bookend games were both against Conotton Valley, one of the powerhouses in the Inter-Valley Conference’s North Division.
The week got underway on Monday, April 7, when Malvern headed to Bowerston to take on Conotton Valley. Everything started well enough as the Hornets jumped on the board first, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning.
The Rockets responded in kind, scoring two runs of their own to tie the game. Malvern, however, had nothing left in the tank as Conotton Valley kept adding on runs—one in the second, two in the third, and three in the fourth—to open up an 8-2 lead. The Rockets tacked on one more run in the sixth to end the scoring.
Malvern was outhit, but not by much, as the Rockets amassed eight hits to the Hornets’ six. However, Malvern committed four errors, while Conotton Valley played mistake-free ball. Jaxon Jones (0-1) was tagged with the loss in Malvern’s IVC North opener. Cooper Kiehl went 2-for-3 with a stolen base, while Kaden Dennis was 1-for-1 at the plate.
The following day, on April 8, Malvern hosted Jefferson County Christian for a nonconference game. Cam Good (1-1) put on a pitching clinic for the Hornets, scattering four hits over seven innings while fanning nine batters in a 4-1 win.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fifth, when the Hornets exploded for four runs. JCC finally got on the board in the top of the seventh inning, but one run was all the Royals (6-2) could muster.
Tyler Cobb went 1-for-2 with an RBI, while Bryan Casler was 1-for-3 and also registered an RBI.
With no time to rest, the Hornets hosted Conotton Valley on Wednesday, April 9. This time around, the game was scoreless for the first two innings, but eventually, the Rockets got through to Malvern pitcher Jared Witherow, scoring six runs in the third inning. Conotton Valley added two more runs in the fourth inning and then six more in the sixth, invoking the mercy rule.