Collins#039; near-perfect effort keys Fighting Tigers rout

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, April 23, 2003

SOUTH POINT - Nobody is perfect, but Nick Collins sure tries hard.

Collins took a perfect game into the fifth inning only to yield a base hit, but he preserved his shutout as the Ironton Fighting Tigers blanked the South Point Pointers 12-0 in six innings Tuesday.

"Nick pitched a nice ball game, and he continued to hit the ball," Ironton coach Mark Lewis said. "But we hit the ball pretty well up and down the lineup."

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Matt White went 2-for-4 with a home run and two runs batted in as Ironton banged out 11 hits. Greg Mountain was 3-4 with two RBI, Collins 2-3 and two RBI, and Derek Moore 2-3.

Moore singled, stole second, went to third on a ground out and scored on a passed ball in the first inning to give Ironton all the scoring it really needed.

Four more runs scored in the third inning as Tyler Whaley tripled home a run, White singled in Whaley, and Collins delivered a two-run single.

A hit batsman, two walks, and RBI singles by Mountain and Kevin Williams keyed a three-run fifth inning that extended the lead to 8-0.

White homered to start a four-run sixth inning.

Josh Sands was safe on an error and scored on Mountain's base hit. Collins singled and Williams grounded out as a run scored. Moore singled to drive in the final run.

Collins retired the first 14 batters he faced before Nathan Leighty singled with two outs in the fifth inning.

In the sixth inning, Collins struck out the first two batters and then allowed a single to Clifton Lovejoy before striking out the next batter to end the game.

Collins struck out seven and did not walk a batter.

Ironton (8-6) hosts Gallipolis at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

South Point plays at Rock Hill on Wednesday in an Ohio Valley Conference game, then hosts Portsmouth on Thursday.

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Nick Collins and Derek Moore. Seth Craft, Caleb Copley (6) and Dale Kinney. W-Collins 3-0 (7-K, 0-W). L-Craft(1-K, 6-W). 3B-Ironton: Tyler Whaley. HR-Ironton: Matt White. SB-Ironton: Nick Collins 2, Derek Moore, Patrick Kouns. Hitting-Ironton: Kevin Williams 1-5 (2 RBI), Derek Moore 2-3, Tyler Whaley 1-5, Matt White 2-4 (2 RBI), Greg Mountain 3-4 (2 RBI), Nick Collins 2-3 (2 RBI); South Point: Nathan Leighty 1-2, Clifton Lovejoy 1-3.