Big inning spells defeat for West Alabama

The night after giving up six runs in the fourth inning of a four run loss, West Alabama yielded another six run inning en route to a six run loss. With the game scoreless, the Ohio Valley champs from Jeffersontown, KY lit up the scoreboard with six runs in the bottom of the third to put West Alabama in a hole. Both teams added a run in the fourth that resulted in a 7-1 loss for the host team.

After a stalemate through three innings, the Ohio Valley champs heated up in the bottom of the third inning. After the lead-off batter was hit by a pitch, Jeffersontown utilized four singles and two walks to take a 6-0 lead.

Kevin McElroy walked to start the top of the fourth for West Alabama. After Jesse Marshall went down swinging, McElroy stole second. When Ryan Bumgarner grounded out to first, McElroy advanced to third. Parker Phillips put the ball in play and reached on an error by the first baseman, while McElroy scored from third. J.P. Powell would ground out on the next play, ending the top half of the fourth with West Alabama trailing 6-1 .

Jeffersontown added an insurance run in the bottom of the fourth by virtue of an error, a walk and RBI sacrifice fly ball. The run brought the scoring to an end for the night with Jeffersontown leading West Alabama 7-1. Neither team would score in their remaining at-bats.

Offensively, Powell walked twice and McElroy walked once to lead West Alabama. The key stats of the night: no hits for the West Alabama team and 13 strikeouts. The host team sits at 1-2 and gets a day of rest on Sunday to hopefully regroup for their last game of pool play against Chandler, AZ on Monday at 7:00pm.