When trying to stop a racehorse, you pull back on the reins.

Ironton coach Tobey Schreck learned Tuesday not to treat his team like a runaway racehorse after the Fighting Tigers blew an 8-1 lead and then rallied in the seventh inning to edge the Coal Grove Hornets 11-10.

For the first five innings, Ironton rode a horse named pitcher David Bridges who struck out eight, walked one, allowed three hits and the only run was unearned.

“Bridges had thrown 84 pitches and he was dominating. I thought with a big lead we could take a look at some of the other players,” Schreck said. “We stopped running and doing the things that got us the lead. That’s my fault.”

The Hornets got a run in the top of the second inning on a double by Taylor Dean and an error.

Ironton answered with a 7-run rally in the bottom of the inning.

Wes Runyon and Keith Wetzel walked and Tanner Reed was hit by a pitch to start the rally. Chad Miller drilled a two-run single, Bridges walked to load the bases, Nick Lewis singled in a run and T.J. Keith smacked a 2-run base hit. Runyon’s base hit drove home Keith.

The lead went to 8-1 in the fourth when Keith reached on an error and Runyon singled.

Coal Grove (0-2) refused to quit with a three-run rally in the sixth inning on a walk to Dean, hits by Greg Hall and Scott Harbolt, a couple of wild pitches and two errors.

The Hornets then mounted a 6-run seventh inning to take a 10-9 lead.

Shannon Goodwin began the inning with a base hit. Dean walked, Hall singled, Harbolt hit into a fielder’s choice, Sean Stormes and Wayne Sparks singled, Oakie Haynes walked and a passed ball and an error allowed two more runs to score.

But Ironton rose to the challenge as Miller singled and scored on Bridges’ third double. Lewis and Keith walked to load the bases and Wes Runyon was hit by a pitch to force home the winning run.

Bridges went 3-4, Miller was 3-5, Runyon 2-2 and Lewis 2-3 as Ironton collected 12 hits.

Hall was 2-4 to pace the Hornets.

Coal Grove0100036=1091

Ironton0701102=11126

Zach Murphy and Taylor Dean. David Bridges (8-K, 1-BB, 3-H, 0-ER), Ryan Allen (6) and Tanner Reed, Josh Dyer (6), Reed (7). W-Allen (4-K, 4-BB, 6-H, 1-HBP, 9-R). 2B-CG: Taylor Dean; Ironton: David Bridges 3. Hitting-Coal Grove: Oakie Haynes 1-4, Zach Murphy 1-4, Shannon Goodwin 1-5, Taylor Dean 1-2, Greg Hall 2-4, Scott Harbolt 1-4, Sean Stormes 1-3, Wayne Sparks 1-4; Ironton: Chad Miller 3-5, David Bridges 3-4, Nick Lewis 2-3, T.J. Keith 1-4, Wes Runyon 2-2, Alfred Parece 1-1.