King breaks Mules’ doubles record

There’s a new record-breaker in town.

The anticipation was high for senior first baseman Kayson King as he prepared to break the Poplar Bluff single-season doubles record in Friday’s matchup against East Carter at Bobby Strenfel Field.

King recently tied the season doubles record of 14, which Michael Anagnostopoulos previously set in 2017. After a 7-3 win over East Carter, he now stands alone at the top with a record-breaking 15 doubles in a single season.

With only two games left in the regular season, the Mules set their sights on finishing strong as they got one step closer to the district tournament.

The Mules kicked off with a massive surge of runs in the bottom of the second as they capitalized off the miscues of East Carter and connected with multiple hits for a 5-0 lead. Kolby Greenwall struck first for the Mules with a double to right field to push David Durbin across home plate, while King connected on a single past third base to bring in another run.

After a few scoreless innings, King stepped up to the plate at the bottom of the fourth as the crowd waited on pins and needles to witness history. As the East Carter pitcher wound up his best attempt to land a strikeout, King connected with his 15th double with a blast to left field.

King said breaking the doubles record was not his focus when the season started, but as he got closer, it was something that he wanted to capture.

The Mules continued to tack on more runs and finished East Carter off by not allowing another run for the last two innings as they coasted to victory.

Dylan Bratcher earned the victory on the mound for the Mules going the entire seven innings, allowing three runs on three hits and striking out four.

The Mules connected with nine hits. King, Bryce Dobbs and Myles Johnson each racked up multiple hits for the Mules, all leading with two. Hall and Green led with two RBIs each, while King and Dobbs had one.

The Mules will be on the road Tuesday to take on Malden at 4:30 p.m.