By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

Things went good and bad for the St. Joseph Flyers.

Fortunately, there were more good times than bad.

The good times included 12 hits, 11 runs and some solid pitching by T.J. Young as the Flyers held off the Coal Grove Hornets 11-8 Thursday.

“At times we played well but at times we lost our focus. It’s nice to win, but we have to play better,” said Flyers’ coach Greg Bryant.

Young allowed three hits, five runs while striking out seven and walking four in five innings of work.

“T.J. got off to a slow start, then he settled down and gave us a good performance,” said Bryant.

Young went 3-4 at the plate along with Tanner Riley and Justin Mahlmeister.

Jared Eldridge was 2-3 with a home run and Cody Gool 2-4 with a home run and five runs batted in.

The Hornets took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Pennington doubled and Eldridge hit a two-out home run.

The Flyers tied the game in the bottom of the inning when Payton Blair walked, Levi Hopkins was hit by a pitch, Riley singled and Mahlmeister cracked a two-run single.

St. Joseph (5-0) took the lead for good with four runs in the second inning.

With two outs, Hopkins walked, Riley singled and both moved up on a wild pitch. Mahlmeister and Young had RBI singles, Cody Blackburn singled to load the bases and Luke McGraw was safe on an error to score pinch-runner Eli Lewis.

Grant Geswein walked to send home pinch-runner Nick Roach.

The Hornets got two runs back in the third inning on walks to Jake Murphy and Eldridge and a two-run single by Gool.

St. Joseph answered with five runs in its half of the inning.

Blair doubled, stole third and came home on a throwing error.

Riley, Mahlmeister singled and Young all singled for a run. Blackburn hit into a fielder’s choice as a run scored. McGraw and Geswein had infield singles and Joseph Payton put down a squeeze bunt.

Coal Grove got a run in the fifth when Murphy was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on a pair of wild pitches.

The Hornets capped the scoring in the top of the seventh on a two-out, three-run homer by Gool.

The Flyers play Ironton at 5 p.m. Friday.

Coal Grove 202 010 3 = 8 5 3

St. Joseph 245 000 x = 11 12 3

Conor Markins, Jared Eldridge (3) and Jake Murphy. T.J. Young, Justin Mahlmeister (6) and Justin Mahlmeister, T.J. Young (6). W-Young (H-3, K-7, BB-4). Mahlmeister H-2, K-3, BB-1, R-3. L-Markins. 2B-CG: Cody Pennington; St. Joseph: Payton Blair. HR-CG: Jared Eldridge, Cody Gool. Hitting-Coal Grove: Cody Pennington 1-4, Jared Eldridge 2-3, Cody Gool 2-4; St. Joseph: Payton Blair 1-4, Tanner Riley 3-4, Justin Mahlmeister 3-4, T.J. Young 3-4, Cody Blackburn 1-4, Luke McGraw 1-4.