SOSO – Jordan McCaffrey fired a complete-game 2-hitter as the Lawrence County Cougars defeated the West Jones Mustangs 4-2 in baseball action Monday night. The win clinched a winning season for Coach Cory Keyes’ Cougars, who completed the 2013 campaign with a 14-13 record.

“That was really important to us,” Keyes said. “After we were eliminated from the (4A) playoff chase, having a winning season became our number one priority. It took a great effort, against a fine team to get it.”

McCaffrey retired the first 11 batters he faced, and 15 of the first 16. He ran into control issues in the sixth and seventh innings, but was able to battle through it. McCaffrey’s effort was buoyed by outstanding play from the LCHS outfield.

“I thought our outfield play was tremendous,” Keyes said. “Patrick (Little), T-Tez (Cole) and Kewuan (May) had a lot of action tonight, and they made all the plays.”

Lawrence County grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Hunter Stephens doubled and eventually scored on a wild pitch. In the third, the Cougars made it 2-0 when catcher Cade Turner singled, and courtesy runner Rusty Rowells later scored on a wild pitch.

In the top of the fourth, center fielder Kewuan May walked and later scored when Turner smashed a wicked shot off the leg of West Jones pitcher Aaron Waite.

Waite was forced to leave the game. He was one of 6 pitchers used by Mustang coach Joey Ward, as Ward was setting his staff up for this weekend’s Class 5A playoff series with the Ole Brook Panthers.

In the sixth inning, May singled, moved all the way to third on an errant pickoff attempt, and scored when Patrick Little blooped a single through the Mustangs’ drawn in infield. That gave the Cougars a 4-0 lead.

Through 5 innings, McCaffrey breezed through the West Jones lineup. In the sixth, however, he walked 2 Mustang batters, and it took an excellent catch by Little in the left field corner to keep West Jones off the scoreboard.

In the bottom of the seventh, Mustang cleanup hitter Josh Tucker was retired on another fine catch, this one by May in center field. After a base on balls, designated hitter Jake Smith broke up McCaffrey’s shutout bid with a 2-run homer to right field.

After a ground ball out, and another base on balls, McCaffrey induced a fly ball to center to end the game.

“Our dugout was really alive tonight,” said long-time LCHS assistant Craig Davis. “It was really a fun night. A lot of teams shut it down when things don’t go all that well and they’re eliminated from the playoff race. It’s a credit to Coach Keyes and our players that they fought it to the bitter end.

“We’ve been doing this for 26 years, and we’ve only had one losing season. That’s something we take great pride in, and I thought that showed tonight, even at the end of a tough season.”