Mules edge Tigers in baseball; Poplar Bluff wins track title

Donnie Magruder came through in the clutch for the Mules at home Saturday against Cape Central, giving himself a win in the process.

In the bottom of the seventh inning with the game tied, Magruder hit a single through the right side with the bases loaded to score Cameron Pickard and give the Mules a 6-5 win.

Taylor Boles pitched six innings and gave up five runs before Magruder pitched a hitless seventh and earned the win.

Brennan Moore had two RBIs in the win.

With one out in the seventh inning, Pickard singled to center to start the rally. Todd Bullington followed with a single to move Pickard to third base. Moore reached base after a dropped third strike to set up the Magruder game-winner.

Cape Central took an early lead in the first inning before the Mules got their chance. Josh Thompson singled and Pickard hit a double to set the table for Moore. Moore then singled to score both Thompson and Pickard and give the Mules a 2-1 edge.

The Tigers, however, took the lead back with one run in the third and another in the fifth to make it 3-2. Poplar Bluff answered in the fifth as Dallas Berry singled and later scored on a Bullington ground out to tie the game at 3.

The Tigers took the lead for a third time in the sixth inning. With a runner on base, Brooks Osburn crushed a Boles delivery over the left-field wall to make it 5-3. The Mules countered in the bottom of the inning with two runs on an error to knot the game at 5-5.

BOYS TRACK

The Mules finished off a win Saturday at the Jackson Invitational in style as the 1,600-meter relay team of Zach Ferguson, Brent Wagner, Josh Freeman and Jordan Chaligoj won the last race of the day.

Matt Chatman and Phil Klaproth also won their field events as the Mules beat Notre Dame for the top spot 105-71 in a field of 18 teams.

Klaproth won the shot with a throw of 50-feet, 11-inches while Chatman cleared a personal-best 13-6 in the pole vault. The 1600 relay won with a time of 3 minutes, 34.62 seconds.

Chris Kilgore also set a PR by clearing 6-2 in the high jump while Travis Blalock finished second in the 1,600 at 4:43.64 and third in the 3,200 at 10:03.62.

Bill Turner was third in the discus at 138-7 while Greg Coble's 41-0 was third in the triple jump and his 19-4.75 was third in the long jump.

Ferguson finished fourth in the 110-hurdles at 15.95 filling in for injured junior Austin Williams. Ferguson also finished sixth in 300 at 41.81 and sixth in the triple jump at 39-2.5.

Damon Bower's 11.35 time in the 100 placed sixth while Chaligoj was fifth in the 400 at 52.47 followed by Wager's 55.03 for eighth. Kenyon Francis (12-0) was fifth in the pole vault while Kilgore (19-1.5) was fifth in the long jump.

The 800-relay of Aaron Ellis, Kerey Smith, Francis and Chaligoj was sixth in 1:36.99 while Ellis, Bower, Smith and Coble were sixth in the 400-relay at 46.11.

GIRLS TRACK

Rebecca Piland won the long and triple jumps while finishing fifth in the high jump Saturday at the Jackson Invitational.

Piland's leap of 33-6.5 was tops in the triple jump while her long jump of 16-5.5 was best. The junior cleared 4-10 in the high jump as the Lady Mules finished seventh out of 18 teams.

Hanna Blalock was second in the 1,600 at 5:27.49 and finished fourth in the 3,200 at 11:41.64.