The Cardinals belted four home runs on their way to a 15-1 win over McDonald County on Friday.  

Lake Johnson pulled a solo home run over the scoreboard with two outs in the first inning to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. 

The Cardinals put up five runs in the second.  Braden Strickland drilled a triple to the opposite field to start the inning and later scored on wild pitch.  With two outs, Dawson McMullen singled to left, moved on around to third and scored on a Karsen Myers base hit.  Mason Wiliams belted a two run homer to center, pushing the lead to 5-0.  Not done there, Lake Johnson dropped a single into right, coming around to score on a triple off the bat of Trevor Lofland.  

Four runs in the third was aided by patience at the plate and only one hit.  Loading the bases on two walks and a hit batter, Karsen Myers just missed a grand slam as his drive to left-center hit off the wall for a two run single.  Two more and walks and another hit batter forced the final two runs of the inning home.

After scoring two more in the fourth, they shortened the game to only five inning with three more in the fifth.  A solo home run to left from Mason Young to start the inning was followed by a two run shot from Barek Hoffman.

On the day, the offense finished with 13 hits, drew six walks and was hit by four pitches.  For the second game in a row, the Cardinals were able to get plate appearances for a multitude of players.  Fourteen different players got at bats with nine different players either getting a hit or scoring a run.

Karsen Myers, Mason Williams, Lake Johnson and Braden Strickland each collected two hits.  Myers drove in three runs, Williams and Johnson with home runs and two runs batted in.  The four home runs hit were the most by a team since they hit four against St Joe Benton in 2023.

Rylan Bell earned the win, throwing the first three innings, scattering three hits and only allowing a single run.  Bryson Bard pitched the final two, striking out four.