Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

PROCTORVILLE — Pitching plus defense equals a win.

Those two key elements helped the Coal Grove Hornets beat the Fairland Dragons 10-2 Wednesday in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

Jesse Rigsby pitched a five-hitter for the win. He struck out nine and walked two.

“We played pretty well,” said Hornets’ coach Dean Mader. “We fielded the ball well. Jesse threw strikes for the most part and kept the ball down.”

Fairland (1-2, 0-2) struggled with its pitching and defense. The Dragons used three pitchers who combined for 11 walks and two hit batsmen. They committed five errors.

“We couldn’t throw strikes,” said Fairland coach Bryan Ward.

Coal Grove (4-0, 2-0) took a 3-0 lead in the first.

D.J. Miller walked, an error, Mason Nance’s RBI double made it 1-0. Rigsby walked, moved up on a passed ball and scored on an RBI ground out by Conor Markins. Travis Carey singled in the final run.

Fairland scored a run back in the bottom of the first on a walk to Collin Damron, Tyler Campbell’s double and a balk.

The Hornets got the run back in the second on walks to Sean Paulus, Jacob Clark and Miller and a passed ball.

Coal Grove erupted for six runs in the fourth. After four walks, Nance had an RBI single and Rigsby a two-run single to highlight the rally.

The Dragons other run scored in the third on a hit by Trace Adkins, a passed ball and Darmon’s base hit.

Nance was 2-5 for the Hornets. Adkins went 2-4 for the Dragons.

Coal Grove 310 600 0 = 10 7 2

Fairland 101 000 0 = 2 5 5

Jesse Rigsby and Jacob Clark. Adam Taylor, Brett Curry (2), Tyler Blake (4) and Garrett Scheibelhood. W-Rigsby (K-9, BB-2). L-Taylor (K-0, BB-3, HBP-1). Curry (K-0, BB-6), Blake (K-3, BB-2, HBP-1). Hitting-CG: Mason Nance 2-5, Jesse Rigsby 1-2, Travis Carey 2-4, Sean Paulus 1-2, Conor Markins 1-4; Fairland: Trace Adkins 2-4, Collin Damron 1-2, Tyler Campbell 1-3, Michael Morgan 1-1. 2B-CG: Mason Nance; Fairland: Tyler Campbell.