Cougars Pick-up Three Wins
With two weeks to go in the regular season, the Cougars, like most teams, are looking to put it all together
so they are playing their best baseball when the post-season rolls around.
They took a big step in that direction this week with convincing wins over Mulberry Grove, Stewardson-Strasburg,
and Salem to run their record to 16-6 on the season.
In a Monday game with Mulberry Grove, the Cougars pounded out three home runs to back the 2-hit pitching of
sophmore Wade Crain and cruised to a 14-0 five-inning win.
Crain, starting for the first time this season, went the distance allowing only the 2 hits on 3 strikeouts
and 3 walks.
Offensively, Miles Yates continued his torrid hitting with 3 hits and 2 RBI's, and Spencer Patton, Trey Garrett,
and Louis Daugherty all homered to lead the 13-hit onslaught.
On Tuesday, it was more of the same as the Cougars racked up 14 hits enroute to a 16-4 ambushing of the visiting
Stew-Stras Comets.
Spencer Patton picked up his fourth win of the season, pitching all 5 innings allowing 5 hits on 9 strikeouts
and 2 walks.
The Cougars' big bats were booming again as they cranked out 5 homers in all, two of them coming from
senior catcher Nathan Lotz. Also joining in the fun were Yates, Patton, and Garrett with their long balls and Blake Lane and
Chad King added two hits apiece to pace the potent offensive attack.
On Wednesday, the Cougars traveled to Salem to battle the Wildcats and their new skipper, long-time South
Central Legion coach Jim Shields.
The Cougars scored twice in the first and two more times in the third to jump out to an early 4-1 lead and
it stayed that way until the 7th when they tacked on five insurance runs to win going away.
Miles Yates started things out with a bang when he launched his fifth home run of the season to start the
game. Then in the third with a runner on, Louis Daugherty swatted one of his own that just cleared the fence in left-centerfield.
The Cougars sent ten men to the plate in the big 7th inning, highlighted by a lead-off double from Chad King
and consecutive hits by Yates, Patton, and Garrett, but then later in the frame, Nick Simmons and Blake Lane added RBI
singles to cap-off the 5-run uprising.
Starting pitcher Trey Garrett upped his record to 7-1 by scattering 10 hits on 4 strikeouts and 4 walks.
Up next for the Cougars is a home date with the Newton Eagles on Thursday at 4:30 P.M.
