PORTSMOUTH – It rained earlier in the day, then it poured late Friday afternoon on the Ironton Fighting Tigers.

Saturday, April 21, 2001

PORTSMOUTH – It rained earlier in the day, then it poured late Friday afternoon on the Ironton Fighting Tigers.

Ironton probably wished the rain had lasted all day after losing 12-3 to the Portsmouth Trojans.

"We didn’t play well, that’s for sure," Ironton coach Mark Lewis said. "We’re struggling right now. But in baseball you can right the ship quickly. We’ve still got four games next week and the week after that before the tournament."

The Fighting Tigers had six errors that helped keep Portsmouth rallies alive.

Matt White took the loss as he gave up 12 hits and eight earned runs while striking out three and walking three.

"To look at the numbers, you’d think Matt had a bad day. Actually, he threw the ball real well. He only walked three, Portsmouth just did a good job of hitting the ball today and we didn’t make some plays behind him that made things look a lot worse," said Lewis.

While Portsmouth (9-6) was hitting the ball, Ironton managed just three hits. Portsmouth pitcher Josiah Young struck out six but walked seven.

"He put runners on base, we just didn’t come through with any clutch hits," said Lewis.

The game was scoreless until the third when Portsmouth scored five times.

With one out, Young walked, went to second on an error, took third on a hit by Jason Fleming, and scored on a wild pitch.

Kyle Porter walked and Dustin Pendleton lofted a three-run homer to center. Jeff Swords was safe on an error and scored on a hit by Case Kegley.

Ironton (7-8) got a run in the fourth.

Fleming was 3-for-4 with two doubles, Pendleton 2-for-4 with four runs batted in, and Swords, Kegley, and Mathis each went 2-for-4.

Whaley was 2-for-3 for Ironton.

The Fighting Tigers host Greenup County at 5:30 p.m. Monday