Allen Mustangs entering tough stretch
Mar. 21—WRIGHT CITY — The Allen High School baseball team couldn't get its offense clicking in a 7-2 loss to Sterling Saturday at the Wright City Festival.
Allen fell to 3-5 so far this spring, while Class A No. 6 Sterling improved to 6-1. It won't get any easier for the Mustangs over the next week. Allen hosted Class A No. 14 Caddo on Monday, travels to Class A No. 4 Tushka on Tuesday and heads to Class B No 2 Roff on March 27.
Five of Allen's eight games this spring have been against ranked teams and another was against Davis, a Class 3A school with only one loss on the season so far.
The Tigers scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning and four more in the fourth frame to race to a 7-0 lead.
Allen finally broke the ice in the top of the sixth. Beckett Wells and Tagus Howard ripped back-to-back singles to start the inning. Wells later scored on a one-out error and Howard raced home after Conner Smith punched an RBI single into center field to make it 7-2.
The Mustangs and Tigers both finished with eight hits each.
Alex Hill finished 2-for-4 with a double and Smith went 2-for-3 with a double to pace the AHS offense. Emmett Koonce had the other Allen hit. Jake Hisaw drew a pair of walks for the locals.
Nate Anderson went 2-for-3 with two walks and two runs scored for Sterling, while Kayden Wilson blasted a two-run homer and drove in three total runs for the Tigers. Tukker Hughes doubled for Sterling and Clinton Moore finished 1-for-3 with two runs scored.
Riley Lile was the winning hurler for the Tigers. He struck out eight, walked four and allowed just one earned run in 5.1 innings. Hill absorbed the loss for Allen. He struck out four and walked nine in 3.1 innings. Wells tossed the final 2.1 innings and struck out two, walked just one and didn't allow a run.
