It is highly unlikely any Kosciusko baseball fans have been asking for a refund during the Whippets’ postseason run.
Kosy eked out two more dramatic wins last week, advancing to the MHSAA Class 4A North State championship series with thrilling 6-5 and 7-6 wins over Amory in third-round state playoff action.
Those wins lifted Kosciusko to 18-13 on the season and sent them into this week’s North State championship series with division rival New Hope.
The Whippets will go to New Hope Thursday for Game 1 of the best-of-three series. Kosciusko will host Game 2 Friday, with the third and if-necessary game to return to New Hope Saturday.
The Trojans, who are 27-5 overall and won the Region 4-4A crown, defeated Kosciusko 13-3 and 6-4 during the regular season.
The Whippets have been red-hot since, however, winning their third straight playoff series in heart-pulsing fashion last week.
In the first game of the series with Amory, Walker Yuille provided the heroics with a ninth-inning home run. In Game 2, Evan Scott’s walk-off single produced the winning run.
At Amory, Kosciusko scored three times in the second inning and led 4-1 after three frames.
The Panthers scored twice in the fourth and tied it in the seventh, and it stayed 5-5 until Yuille’s solo homer in the top of the ninth gave the Whippets the winning run.
Logan Fancher’s three-run homer in the second gave Kosciusko the early lead and he finished 2-for-4 with four RBIs. Yuille was 2-for-3.
Brandon Black was 3-for-4 to lead the Whippets, while Chase Morgan was 2-for-3 with a double, two runs and an RBI.
Micah Parker singled and scored twice, while Scott, Clark Dean and Eldarius Roby all had a single.
Parker was also the winning pitcher, throwing four innings in relief. He scattered six hits and gave up no earned runs. Dean got the save with two strikeouts in the ninth, while Yuille started and struck out six in four innings.
Back at home, the Whippets fell behind 3-0 to Amory before scoring three times in the bottom of the fifth.
The Panthers answered with three runs in the top of the sixth to go ahead 6-3, and Kosciusko was down to its final out before a crazy rally produced the win.
Black led off the bottom of the seventh with a walk and Dean was hit by a pitch with one out. After a fielder’s choice left runners at first and third with two outs, Morgan delivered a two-run double to pull Kosy within 6-5.
Fancher’s single scored Morgan to tie the game. Ethan Gowan followed with a single and Yuille was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Scott’s game-winning hit scored pinch-runner Walker Hill.
Parker was 2-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and a run; Black was 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI; Scott was 2-for-4 with the one big RBI.
Morgan had the double, two RBIs and a run; Fancher singled and drove in one; Justin Nunn singled and scored; Gowan and Yuille had singles; and Hill and Will Cook each scored.
Tyler Vancise, the last of five Kosciusko pitchers, got the win. The quintet gave up five earned runs and struck out four.
