Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

RACELAND, Ky. — Who said baseball was slow and boring?

Coal Grove built a big lead and then held off a late rally as the Hornets outlasted the Raceland Rams 16-15 on Wednesday.

Coal Grove took a 12-2 lead after four innings and led 16-8 lead into the seventh inning. The Rams scored seven times in the seventh but fell short.

“We were up 12-2 and had the game in hand, but we let them back in it,” said Hornets’ coach Dean Mader. “But to our guys credit, they kept their composure and got the win.”

The Hornets banged out 16 hits with Jesse Rigsby going 3-for-3 with a triple, Cole Gannon 3-4 with a double and Jacob Clark 3-5 with a triple.

Sean Paulus was 2-4, Jacob Pierce 1-3, Adam Bryant 1-2, Isaiah Gunther 1-4 and Daniel Rutherford 1-5 with a triple as Coal Grove improved to 2-0.

Kane Snyder was 4-5 with a double to lead the Rams (2-3) who had 15 hits. Kyle Moore went 3-3 with a triple, Nathaniel Davidson, Landon Adams and John Cherry 2-3, and Tyler Morris and Austin Helms 1-4.

After Raceland took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, the Hornets rallied to take the lead for good at 5-2 in the third inning.

Coal Grove used three walks, a hit batsman, singles by Paulus and Gannon and Clark’s triple to score the five runs.

The Hornets got six singles and two walks to score seven runs in the fourth inning as the lead went to 12-2.

Raceland scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth but the Hornets got a run in the top of the fifth when Paulus singled, stole second and third and came home on an error.

Raceland cut the deficit to 13-8 with three runs in the bottom of the fifth, but Coal Grove answered with three runs in the sixth.

Clark singled, Rutherford and Rigsby tripled and Pierce hit a sacrifice fly.

The Rams rally in these seventh was fueled by five walks, three singles and a double by Snyder.

Coal Grove visits Chesapeake on Friday in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

Coal Grove 005 713 0 = 16 16 2

Raceland 200 330 7 = 15 15 2

Daniel Rutherford, Jesse Rigsby and Jesse Rigsby, Jacob Clark. Tyler Morris, Kane Snyder, Justin Fairchild and Nicholas Collier. Hitting–CG: Jacob Clark 3-5 3B, Daniel Rutherford 1-5 3B, Jesse Rigsby 3-3 3B, Jacob Pierce 1-3, Sean Paulus 2-4, Jeb Jones 1-4, Cole Gannon 3-4 2B, Adam Bryant 1-2, Isaiah Gunther 1-4; Raceland: Nathaniel Davidson2-3, Kyle Moore 3-3 3B, Tyler Morris 1-4, Landon Adams 2-3, John Cherry 2-3, Kane Snyder 4-5 2B, Austin Helms 1-4.