Charleston High School baseball allowed 11 runs in the seventh inning and lost its conference home opener 12-6 against Effingham on Wednesday at Baker Field.  

With Charleston ahead 6-1 in the top of the seventh inning, Flaming Hearts junior Carter Braddy led off with a double. After another single, junior Jude Traub hit a line drive to left field to score the first run of the inning.   

Senior Brayden Tucker followed by driving in two runs off a hit to left field. After a double and a walk, Charleston senior Quinn Taylor was subbed out at pitcher for junior Ty Helton. 

The next at bat, senior Wyatt Hayes hit a ball to center field that drove home two runs, tying the game 6-6. 

Effingham took the lead off a passed ball and added two more the next at bat off a Braddy single.  

Senior Brody Boehm hit a sacrifice fly to senior Chase King to send home a run.  

The final scoring play was a double hit into deep left field by Max Flack, which put Effingham up 12-6.  

The 11 runs are the most in a inning from Effingham all season.  

“You don’t see that too often, so that’s awesome. It’s awesome for them,” Effingham head coach Curran McNeely said.   

The game was dominated by pitching early on. Trojans starter junior Wyatt Gordon pitched five innings without giving up a run and recorded nine strikeouts. 

“He threw his tail off,” McNeely said. “He was fantastic on the mound.” 

Effingham senior and Lake Land College commit Flack pitched four innings, only allowing the opening run from a balk.  

That would change in the bottom of the fifth inning. Charleston got two runners on base with a walk from Taylor followed by a single from senior Rohen Walters.  

During King’s at bat, a wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third. Taylor would score on another wild pitch in the same at bat.  

The next at bat saw Helton hit a single to send the Trojans ahead by 3.  

Gordon would cap off the inning with a double to right field that scored two runs to make it 5-0. 

In the top of the sixth, Effingham strung together several hits off Gordon, causing Taylor to enter as pitcher. The Flaming Hearts scored their first run in the top of the sixth from a Hayes single.   

In the bottom frame, junior Reid Brinkerhoff hit an RBI single to put the Trojans up 6-1.  

“We played six great innings, and it takes seven to win a ball game,” Charleston head coach Jim Miller said. “I think we got a little too tight and couldn’t relax and our emotions got the best of us.” 

The Trojans lost their first game of Apollo Conference play 4-2 in Effingham on Tuesday. 

This marks the first series for the Trojans under the new Apollo Conference structure. Previously, the two games were played as a double-header at one team’s home field with home and away alternating every year. 

Starting this year, there will be two games played on back-to-back days with one at each team’s home. 

“We’ll get through it,” Miller said. “I think we can hang in there because everyone else is.”  

Effingham’s win marks 100 career victories for McNeely. After the win, the team dumped water on him and held a banner celebrating the win. 

“That has nothing to do with me, and I think I told them that” he said. “[It’s] that group right there and the groups that came before them.” 

Jason Coulombe can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].