Mustangs Hang Tough With Kentwood, Lose in End 4-3

by Ian Kenney

This past Thursday afternoon, a rematch from state in 2012 between the Redmond Mustangs and the Kentwood Conquerors went down at Hartman Park. Last year, the Conquerors knocked out the Mustangs in the state tournament en route to winning state overall.

Jacob Brady got the start on the mound for the ‘Stangs, as he pitched 4 innings giving up only 2 runs. Jack Baugher was the next to pitch, which was a smart move by the 'Stangs going from a mid-80 mph right-hander, to a 70 mph crafty left-hander in Baugher. Baugher also gave up 2 runs as the Conquerors made the adjustment to the slower pitching.  

As the Conquerors have the best catcher in the state, and maybe the nation (Reese McGuire), there were many scouts in attendance. The Conquerors head coach does not let scouts come to their games if they don’t watch and consider players on both teams so the scouts had their eye on a few Mustangs as well. McGuire is projected by some baseball analysts as a top-ten pick in this years MLB Draft. Here is a video highlight KING 5 News had on McGuire about a month ago: http://www.king5.com/sports/Reese-McGuire-Nations-Best-in-Prep-Baseball-190312591.html. 

Kyle Francis was the key in this game, hitting another home run, this time to right field. Francis now has 2 home runs on the season in as many games. He has had a phenomenal start to his junior season and currently holds scholarship offers from Washington State and Seattle University. Not only did he make an impact with the bat, he made a diving play in right field to kill a Kentwood rally.

Redmond made some adjustments in this game compared to the last game, where they had 5 errors. They had only one error against Kentwood and left it up to their bats to win the game. The Kentwood pitching and defense was very strong, so it was tough for the Mustangs to find the holes in the defense and to push some runs across he plate.

The Mustangs fell to the Conquerors 4-3, but I wouldn't be surprised with another showdown in state this year. I think that this gave the Mustangs some good experience as they got to see what it’s like playing at that kind of level against a great team. They weren't far behind the entire game and could have easily won the game if a few things would have gone their way. It should be interesting to see what shakes out for Redmond as they get better throughout the season.

Most recently, the Mustangs dropped two games this past Friday and Saturday to the Southridge Suns. On Friday, the Mustangs lost by a score of 5-4 and on Saturday, the Mustangs lost by a score of 7-3. They are now 0-6 against the Suns in their last six games against the team. The Mustangs begin KingCo play this week as they take on the Inglemoor Vikings at Hartman Park with the first pitch being at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday night.  Jacob Brady gets the start in that match-up. They also take on Woodinville Friday at 7:00 p.m. That game is at Woodinville.

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