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Morgan City players, including Phillip Hutchinson, third from left, who drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh via a squeeze bunt, celebrate their 6-5 victory. Berwick’s Nick Duthu, left, and Bobby Boudreaux leave the field.

MCHS squeezes out 6-5 win against Berwick

Staff Report
MORGAN CITY — In a back-and-forth game, Morgan City had just enough to squeeze out a victory in a 6-5 win against Berwick Thursday at Tiger Diamond.
With one out in the bottom of the seventh in a game tied at 5, Morgan City’s Phillip Hutchinson put down a bunt to score teammate Evan Stadalis with the bases loaded and escape with a 6-5 win.
“In that situation right there, Berwick had a lot of pressure on them because man, you got to field the squeeze, you got to get it to home plate, we still (would have) got a runner on third) so I think it was the play to be called, and no matter what we call, they got to produce,” Morgan City assistant coach Kenny Alfred said.
The win marked the end of a back-and-forth contest between the squad.
Early on, Morgan City took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second, while Berwick responded with a run in the top of the third and tied the game in the top of the fifth. Morgan City took a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the fifth and extended its lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the sixth inning.
However, in the top of the seventh, Berwick rallied with two outs.
Nine-hole hitter Cameron Wiley hit a single, while Brooks Richard followed with a triple to left center, scoring Wiley’s courtesy runner, Jeremy Boudreaux, to cut the deficit to 5-4.
Then, Neal Theriot followed with a double to left-center to plate Richard and tie the game.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Stadalis was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and worked his way around the bases, including taking third on a passed ball.
With the bases loaded via two intentional walks, Stadalis scored after Hutchinson laid down a bunt on a 2-1 pitch on a squeeze play for the winning run, and the Tigers stormed the field in celebration.
Hutchinson finished the contest 1-for-4 with an RBI.
“The big thing to us is we fell behind twice in the game and battled back and came back and took the lead back, including the last inning when we finally won the game with a great squeeze bunt by Phillip Hutchinson,” Alfred said.
Berwick coach Mike Thomas said he thought the squeeze play would be put to use against his squad, but he didn’t know when the Tigers would pull the trigger.
On the mound, Morgan City’s Rhett Fryou earned the win. In seven innings, he surrendered five earned runs on seven hits and fanned three.
Alfred said Fryou did well against a “really good hitting team.”
“We got a great game out of Rhett Fryou on the mound,” he said.
Offensively, Nick Spinella led Morgan City with a 2-for-4 performance with a double and an RBI, while Stadalis was 1-for-3 with two RBIs. Other top contributors included Grant Perry, 1-for-2, a double; Brady Fryou, 1-for-3, a double; and Abram Hartley, an RBI.
Thomas said while his squad didn’t play a good game like Morgan City, noting they didn’t hit up to their capabilities, he said Berwick did do a good job of getting hits and scoring runs with two outs.
“But that’s really the only thing offensively that we did well,” he said.
Richard, Theriot and Wiley all collected hits with two outs to drive in runs.
Theriot took the loss for Berwick. In 0.2 innings, he surrendered an earned run on two hits with two intentional walks.
Daniel Gray started the game for the Panthers and surrendered two runs — one earned — on two hits with one hit batter and one strikeout.
In 3.2 innings of relief, Tim Shelby surrendered three earned runs on five hits with two walks and fanned two.
Thomas credited Morgan City, who scored four runs with two outs and when its batters had two strikes on them.
“We didn’t make the quality pitches that we needed to make in certain situations, and they beat us,” he said.
Richard led Berwick with a 2-for-3 performance with a double, a triple and two RBIs, while Theriot was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs, and Wiley was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI.
Berwick (12-7) will return to action Tuesday when it faces Donaldsonville at home at 4 p.m.
Weather permitting, Morgan City (8-9) will travel to Belle Chase today for a junior varsity/varsity doubleheader starting at 4 p.m.

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