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The LaGrange baseball team had to overcome an early deficit on Tuesday to top Callaway 4-3 in a tight affair at The Branch.

Callaway drew first blood in the top of the first inning courtesy of a passed ball that slowed Jaxon Duncan to reach home.

The Grangers would quickly tie the game up with a run in the bottom of the first with a Gryson Cockrell RBI single doing the damage.

Callaway would retake the lead almost immediately, scoring two runs in the top of the second. Slade Hunt drove in the first run of the inning with a single. A Luke Taylor sacrifice fly would make it 3-1 to the Cavaliers. 

LaGrange would chip into the deficit in the bottom of the third inning on a sacrifice fly from Mason Calhoun.

The Grangers would take their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth with a pair of runs. Cockrell reached on an error as two runners reached home with two outs.

“It’s not how I wanted to do it, but it feels good to come through for the team,” Cockrell said. “With the new power rankings, every game matters.”

Sinjon Lash started on the mound for LaGrange and kept the Callaway bats in check in his four innings of work. The senior struck out nine batters while allowing just three hits and two earned runs. 

“I made the game a little bit bigger than it was early because I played with a lot of those guys and there were more fans here than usual with it being a local game,” Lash said. “Once I got through the first couple of innings, I really settled in and felt comfortable.”

Lash was also strong from the plate, going 2-for-3 with a run scored. 

“I really needed those hits and that really fired me up,” Lash said. “Hopefully, it fired the team up to.

“It definitely fires the team up when the pitcher is hitting,” Cockrell added with a smirk. 

Rob Skinner also had two hits, while Cockrell, Calhoun and Brandon Bennett all had a hit apiece for the Grangers. 

Bennett would pitch the final three innings for LaGrange. 

It was a bullpen day for the Cavaliers, who deployed three different pitchers on the evening, with all three pitching two innings each. Wesley Williams started on the mound before making way for Hunt and Blake Harrington. 

Hits were difficult to come by for the Cavaliers as Hunt had two and Williams had one. 

Callaway saw its winning streak snapped at nine games, falling to 15-7 overall while remaining 7-2 in region play. The Cavaliers will host region-leader Morgan County on Friday for a doubleheader. 

LaGrange has now won five games in a row to improve to 18-9 overall and remained 10-4 in the region. It’s been an important stretch for LaGrange as the team had lost three games in a row prior to this winning streak. 

“We are treating every game like it’s a do or die,” Lash said. “We feel like we threw a couple games away that we shouldn’t and now we are treating every game like it could be our last.”

The Grangers will return to the diamond on Wednesday, with a road trip to Woodward Academy in store.