Cougars Still On A Roll,
Pick up Three More Wins
The Cougars
used a combination of strong pitching and airtight defense to pick up three more wins over the weekend.
The first one came at the expense of the Casey-Westfield Warriors on Friday
by a score of 10-3 and the other two came on Saturday at Louisville's "Cardinal Wooden Bat Classic" as the Cougars scooted
by Stew-Stras and Fairfield to win the championship.
Friday's game at Casey saw starting pitcher, Spencer Patton, pitch six strong innings
and the defense play error-free baseball, while the offense churned out ten runs to help notch victory number eleven for the
Cougars.
The Cougars got things going first when they scored two runs in the 2nd. Consecutive
walks from Trey Garrett and Spencer Patton set-up Nick Jones' bunt single to load the bases. Shane Landreth and Miles Yates
then coaxed two more walks out of the Warrior pitcher and each was credited with an RBI.
After Patton surrendered a walk and a 2-run homer in the third to tie things
up, the Cougars struck again in the fourth.
After Patton walked and stole second, Jones reached base when his sacrifice bunt
was misplayed. After he stole second, Landreth picked up an RBI when he drove a hard grounder between third and short. Jones scored on a pass ball and the final two runs would score on singles by Miles Yates and Tyler Burns.
Just for good measure, the Cougars tacked on four more runs in the sixth, highlighted
by Hick's second single and a two RBI basehit by Garrett.
Patton notched his fifth win without a defeat as he gave up only 2 runs on 4 hits
with 4 walks and 8 strikeouts.
The Cougar offense has been red-hot for most of the season, but the wooden bats
used at Saturday's Wooden Bat Classic cooled things down considerably.
Heading into the top of seventh of the morning's first game, the Cougars found themselves in
a scoreless tie with Stew-Stras. Collecting only three hits up to that point, they doubled that total and put up four
big runs in the inning to propel them on to the 4-0 final.
After an infield pop-up, Nick Jones rifled a solo homer over the fence in left to
put the Cougars on the board. Landreth was then hit by a pitch and Yates followed with a single to put runners at the corners.
Nathan Lotz, pinch-running for Landreth, would score the second run when Burn's hot grounder shot through the legs of the
second baseman and he ended up at second with some daring baserunning. Hicks finished off
the scoring by lining the next pitch over second for a 2 RBI single.
Burns started and went the distance, allowing no runs on 2 hits, no walks, and 6
strikeouts.
In the championship game, the Cougar offense remained in the deep freeze, but starting
pitcher Trey Garrett carried a perfect game into the sixth and held on down the stretch to shut out the Mules.
The Cougars would score the only run of the game in the first inning when Matt
Hicks singled, stole second, and scored on Brock Adam's RBI single.
Fairfield would make things interesting in the sixth when their number nine batter
led off the innnig with their first hit of the game. He would later advance to second on a botched pick-off play, but
when he strayed too far off second, another pick-off attempt by the Cougars turned out successful.
After a walk and a Garrett strikeout, the Mules would load the base on their second
hit and a questionable tag play on a fielder's choice. But, Garrett buckled down and rocorded the final out on another strikeout
to end the threat.
Garrett picked up his third win of the season with the shutout, allowing only the
two sixth inning hits to go along with his 10 strikeouts and 2 walks.
The Cougars are back in action on Monday when the host the Vandalia Vandals at 4:30.
BOXSCORES