By Thad Satre
Prep Baseball Report, Indiana

Franklin, IN--- Martinsville’s Mason Kutruff (2014) and Franklin’s Jeremy McKinney (left) were the story of Tuesday night’s Mid-State conference game. Martinsville put more pressure on Franklin, but was unable to take advantage of any opportunity mostly because McKinney (Cincinnati) was that good. The Cincinnati recruit struck out 17 batters, including striking out the side in three innings. 

The biggest threat came in the third for Martinsville when Noah Lavender singled with two outs and got to third on a double from sophomore Ryan Thomas. McKinney, however, slammed the door shut when he induced a ground out. Those would be the only two hits Martinsville would get on the night. 

Kutruff was equally impressive. The junior lefty did not allowed a base runner until the fifth when Russ Barr reached on an error. Kutruff worked around the error to get out of the inning. In the sixth Franklin would break up the no hitter when Ryan Torrence singled and proceeded to steal second. Torrence would move to third on a ground out and score the game’s only run on a breaking ball in the dirt that got by the catcher.  

The one hit and the one run was all Franklin needed to win as the final score was 1-0. These teams will square off again tonight, weather permitting. 

McKinney now has 31 strikeouts in his last two starts. The senior was consistently 85-87, and showed better command than last year. He threw what looked like a two seamer in on right handed hitters that consistently got swing and misses. McKinney's breaking ball at times was really sharp, but was still at times inconsistent. Martinsville's two hits came off the breaking ball.

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