Charleston's Blake Gaddis connects for a two-out double in the third inning of Monday's game against New Madrid County. Gaddis picked up two RBIs on the hit and the Fighting Squirrels picked up the win, 7-4. (Josh Mills/Standard Democrat) [Click to enlarge]

NEW MADRID -- The Charleston Fighting Squirrels were able to hold off New Madrid County's late inning rally on Monday night as they rode the arm of Tyler Whybark to go on and win 7-4 in Senior Babe Ruth action.

New Madrid County went into the bottom of the seventh inning facing a 7-0 deficit but put four runs on the board to make it a bit more interesting.

A three-run home run off the bat of Cody Cook and an RBI single from Sean Thomason contributed to all of New Madrid County's offense. After the four runs were scored, Whybark produced a ground ball, a fly-out and a pop-out to finish off the game and the win.

"I think he probably ran out of gas there at the end," Squirrels head coach Michael Minner said about his starter. "But, we had a few runs to play with so we were going to stick with him and let him gut it out and he did. I'm proud of his effort."

Whybark, who pitched all seven innings, allowing four runs with three strikeouts, had the help of a stout defense behind him as the Squirrels committed only one error. Minner said that is something that he has been stressing to his team.

"We've been struggling as far as playing defense," Minner said. "We're giving up a lot of unearned runs and that's unacceptable when a guy is out there battling his tail off. We've really put stress on that."

Charleston got the scoring started in the third inning after Matt Medlock singled to leadoff the inning and a few batters and a few outs later, Colin Gilooly singled as well. With two men on and two outs, Blake Gaddis knocked a double over the center fielder's head to make it a 2-0 Squirrels lead.

The Nuts continued their offense in the fourth inning, when they were able to plate three more runs. James Miller drove in two runners with a single to right field and Mark Freed drove in Miller with an easy RBI when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Miller was responsible for two more runs in the fifth inning when he connected for a two-run blast over the left field wall. Miller's home run made it a 7-0 Squirrels lead.

After the game, Minner felt like his Squirrels were successful because of their hard work on the field, which is something that they have also stressed on recently.

"Good things don't happen to you when you're not playing hard," said Minner. "I'm a firm believer in that. Whenever you sit back and wait for something good to happen, it's not going to happen. Today, we attacked the game of baseball the way it should be. I felt like we got some production out of some guys that haven't really been contributing and it's because we played hard. I think if we stay at it and continue to play hard, the sky's the limit."

Miller led the Squirrels' charge at the plate with two hits, one a home run, and four RBI. Zach Rowland also had two hits which were both singles.

Up until the seventh inning, New Madrid County's head coach Kevin Lyons said they had a hard time stringing hits together and developing any kind of rhythm.

"Offensively, we struggled a little until the last inning," Lyons said. "We've been a late rally team from pretty much the very beginning."

Cook was the only multiple hitter for New Madrid County, going 2-for-3 including a home run.

Also recording singles for New Madrid County were Jay Singleton and Jacob Estes. Both players were 1-for-3 and Estes crossed the plate for a run in the defeat.

The Squirrels will be back on the diamond today at 6 p.m. when they will take on the Jackson American Legion team at Jackson.