Benajmin leads Tigers past top-ranked Eagles

Republic snapped an 11-game losing streak Thursday with a 5-3 victory over Fair Grove, the top-ranked team in Missouri Class 3. Gabe Benjamin pitched six innings and struck out six to earn the win for the Tigers.


 
Fair Grove jumped ahead 3-0 after three innings, scoring twice in the first with two outs and adding another run in the third on a sacrifice fly. Benjamin worked out of trouble repeatedly, stranding runners in scoring position in the second and fourth innings to keep Republic within reach.


 
The Tigers tied the game in the fourth inning. Brennan Overstreet and Landon Perkins opened the inning with singles, and Maddox West drove in Overstreet with a single to left. Fisher Moore followed with a bunt single that led to an error, allowing two more runs to score.


 
Republic took the lead in the fifth when Cooper Thomas singled to lead off the inning and scored on Landon Blankenship's two-out triple to right field. Overstreet added a sacrifice fly to bring home Blankenship and make it 5-3.

The Eagles put two runners on with nobody out in the seventh, but Republic got a force out at third on an attempted sacrifice bunt. Catcher Nolan Lashley then picked off a runner at second base, and West induced a pop-up to second baseman Thomas to end the game.


 
The victory ended Republic's longest losing streak in recent memory and improved the Tigers to 8-21. The win came after Republic had absorbed losses of 13-1 to state-ranked Willard on Monday and 13-0 to Carthage on Tuesday.