Pitching was a question mark for the Ironton Fighting Tigers coming into the season.

Sunday, April 02, 2000

Pitching was a question mark for the Ironton Fighting Tigers coming into the season.

Chad Parker is bidding to change that question mark into an exclamation point.

The Ironton sophomore righthander tamed the Gallipolis Blue Devils Friday as he scattered nine hits to help Ironton post a 3-1 win.

Parker, 1-0, struck out seven and walked just two in notching the complete game. He threw 91 pitches, 62 for strikes.

"I felt good. My curveball was breaking real well for me. I think I even threw it on a full count once," said Parker. "I felt strong at the end. It takes me about two innings to get warmed up.

"And I had a real good defense backing me up. It helps your confidence to know the guys behind you are going to make the play if they hit the ball."

Ironton did not commit an error.

Ironton (3-0) collected eight hits off Gallipolis pitchers Justin McKinnis and Cody Lane.

"Parker pitched real well," Ironton coach Mark Lewis said. "We were concerned about our pitching, but so far our pitchers have kept us in the game. Gallipolis has a pretty good team this year. That was a big win for us.

"And one of the keys is we’re hitting the ball pretty well and we’re hitting in the clutch. Jon Sites came up big for us at the plate."

Sites, Ironton’s only returning fulltime starter, went 2-for-3 and drove in two runs.

Gallipolis (1-1) got its only run in the top of the first when Lane’s misplayed fly ball went for a triple and Brian Sims delivered a two-out base hit.

Ironton tied the game in the bottom of the first when Drew Mains singled, went to second on a balk, moved up on Josh Harmon’s fly out, and came home on a run-scoring single by Sites.

The Fighting Tigers took a 2-1 lead in the third when Harmon had a two-out triple and Sites came through with his second RBI single.

The lead went to 3-1 in the fourth when Parker singled hard to left and went to second on an outfield error. Courtesy runner Matt Johnson moved to third on a passed ball and came home on Matt White’s base hit.

Gallipolis threatened in the seventh, loading the bases with two outs. But Parker struck out the final batter to end the game.

"He’s a competitor," Lewis said of Parker. "He wanted to go the distance and he wasn’t going to give in. He stayed in there and battled."

Ironton is off Monday and travels to Wheelersburg Tuesday.

Gallipolis 100 000 0 – 1 9 0

Ironton 101 100 x – 3 8 0

Justin McKinnis, Cody Lane (5) and Nick Reed. Chad Parker and Jon Sites. W-Parker 1-0 (7-K, 2-W, 1-ER). L-McKinnis (4-K, 0-W, 7-H, 3-ER). 2B-Gallipolis: Allen Skinner. 3B-Gallipolis: Cody Lane; Ironton: Josh Harmon. SB-Gallipolis: Bobby Angel, Heath Rothgeb; Ironton: Jimmy Peyton. Balk-McKinnis. PB-Reed 2. Hitting-Gallipolis: Heath Rothgeb 2-4, Henry Sloan 2-3, Cody Lane 1-2, Brian Sims 1-4 (RBI), Bobby Angel 1-3, Allen Skinner 1-3, Justin McKinnis 1-4; Ironton: Jon Sites 2-3 (2 RBI), Matt White 1-3 (RBI), Drew Mains 1-3, Josh Harmon 1-3, Jimmy Peyton 1-3, Chad Parker 1-3, Mark Mains 1-3.