By JIM STEELE
mckenzierebels.com

HUNTINGDON - McKenzie is a good hitting team with some talent, but you wouldn't know it watching its baseball display Wednesday afternoon in the District 13A championship.

Huntingdon pitcher COlin Hatch, a junior, threw blanks at McKenzie for six innings before the Rebels finally broke through with a run in the seventh. But once again, fielding gaffes, baserunning blunders and dormant bats proved costly as the Mustangs claimed their second straight District 13A championship at the Rebels expense. Huntingdon won 8-1.

Huntingdon jumped ahead in the top of the first and never looked back. Meanwhile, McKenzie's offensive dearth against the Mustangs continued, to the dismay of McKenzie coach Lynn Yarbrough.

"We put ourselves in a whole right off the bat," he said. "It's tough when you do that. We just haven't been hiting against them and we just got started with the sticks too late."

An error in the first inning with two outs led to a run, an error that would have ended the frame. A couple of defensive mental lapses that won't dent the scorebook in the second stanza helped lead to two more runs and Huntingdon built momentum with a 3-0 lead. Hard-luck starter Nick Chappell allowed a third-inning homer to Blake Burke and the Mustangs were up 4-0 when it really should have been 1-0.

From there, Chappell seemed to settle in and so did the Rebels. The Mustangs went quietly in the fourth and fifth, but with two outs in the sixth, Chappell struggled with control. He hit Will McClure, walked Kevin Smothers and Laman popped an RBI single. That set the table for Brayden Baxter's three-run homer and the Mustangs led 8-0.

In the seventh, Luke Anderson led McKenzie off with a single, but was gunned at the plate on Kyle Kirk's double. Drew Brown roped an RBI double, but the Rebels could do no more.

McKenzie left seven men on base, committed an error and only managed five hits, three coming in the seventh. Chappell struck out three, gave up six hits and walked three. He hit one. Those numbers aren't indicative of an 8-1 loss.

Drew Brown was 1-3 with a double and an RBI. Derek Carr was 1-4, Tyler Reeder was 1-3, Kyle Kirk was 1-2 with a double and Luke Anderson was 1-2. Colin Hatch struck out six and walked four.

The Rebels drop to 23-8 while Huntingdon improves to 23-7. McKenzie will hit the road to either Humboldt, Trenton or Union City Monday for the first round of the Region 7A tournament. Huntingdon will host one of those three teams. Game time will be announced. If McKenzie can win its first-round game, it will be assured of at least two more games and won't face an elimination game until a week from Friday in a substate round.

Brown, Carr, Clint Kee and Parker Jones each earned first-team all-district honors. Rusty Chapman and Kyle Kirk were named second team and Tyler Reeder earned honorable mention.