Wolverine baseball undone by Owen’s two-out explosion in 10-6 loss

Hits fell just out of reach. Pitches just missed the strike zone. And the one out that Polk County desperately needed Friday took forever to arrive.

Owen put together an eight-run rally, all with two outs, in the fourth inning of its Western Highlands Conference showdown with Polk County, and that proved all the offense the Warhorses needed in a 10-6 win over the Wolverines.

Owen (7-11, 7-5) clinched the WHC’s second 2A automatic playoff berth with the win. Polk County (8-11, 5-6) visits Hendersonville on Tuesday, closes its season at home on Wednesday against the Asheville Trailblazers and will look for a win or two to better its case for a wild card playoff berth.

It didn’t look like the Wolverines would need such help for the first half of Friday’s game.

Polk County scored two runs in the first inning, then added another in the third on Daniel Painter’s RBI grounder for a 3-0 edge. Painter then opened the fourth with a defensive gem, diving into the hole at shortstop and throwing from his knees to just nip Owen’s Aaron Stone at first.

Two singles followed before starter Konner Scruggs induced a fly ball to right for the inning’s second out, the Owen baserunner on third failing to tag up on the fly and having to hold. Then the trouble began.

Nathan Fulbright and Brian Bartlett hit back-to-back singles to make it 3-2. Kobe Bartlett then bounced a grounder up the middle that Painter knocked down and flipped to second, but couldn’t retire Brian Bartlett. That loaded the bases for Sam Drummond, who took two balls before Polk County head coach Ty Stott brought in Painter to pitch.

Painter got the count to 3-2 before Drummond drilled a single to score two runs. Two walks forced in one more run and made it 5-3 before D.J. Reed smashed a pitch to deep right-center, clearing the bases and making it 8-3.

The Wolverines began to fight back in the bottom of the fifth. Tyler Campbell singled to left before Bryce Martin laced an RBI double to center. Mark Mazzilli followed with a line drive to right that looked a sure hit before Reed made a leaping catch. Painter singled and Scruggs followed with an RBI grounder to make it 8-5.

The score stayed that way until the seventh, when Owen scored two more runs – again with two outs – to push the lead back to five. Polk County got one run in the bottom of the seventh on a Painter grounder, but that would be it.

Mazzilli and Martin each had two hits to lead the Wolverine attack.