Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

GALLIPOLIS — The see-saw battle ended on the down slide for the Coal Grove Hornets.

Coal Grove saw a seventh inning rally cut short in an 8-7 Ohio Valley Conference loss on Saturday to the Gallipolis Blue Devils.

Coal Grove took a 5-0 lead in the second inning.

Dylan Malone walked, Darren Bloomfield single, Jordan Case walked and a passed ball scored the run.

Cole Gannon then singled, Chase McKnight reached on a fielder’s choice, Jacob Clark walked to force in a run and Daniel Rutherford singled for a run. Jeb Jones and Malone both walked forcing in runs.

Gallipolis (8-5, 4-1) answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning.

Ryan Terry, John Stout, Braden Simms and Kole Carter all singled, Matt Bailey walked and Anthony Sipple singled.

The Blue Devils took the lead with three runs in the fourth.

Carter walked, Bailey bunted for a hit, Eric Ward was hit by a pitch, Jeremy Brumfield and Terry singled for two runs and Stout hit into a fielder’s choice as the final run scored.

Coal Grove got within 7-6 in the sixth when Clark reached on a two-base error and Jones singled.

But Gallipolis got the run back in the bottom of the inning when Ward was hit by a pitch and stole second, Brumfield sacrificed him to third and Terry bunted him home.

Coal Grove (3-6, 1-6) mounted a rally in the seventh that fell just short.

Case and McKnight reached on errors and Clark had an RBI single. Rutherford walked to load the bases, but reliever Marcus Moore got a double play ball to end the game.

Jones went 3-4 with a double and two runs batted in as Coal Grove had 10 hits. Malone was 2-2 and Clark 2-4 with two RBIs.

Terry was 3-3 with two RBIs and Brumfield and Bailey 2-3 as the Blue Devils collected 11 hits.

Coal Grove 050 001 1 = 7 10 3

Gallipolis 040 301 x = 8 11 3

Dylan Malone and Jeb Jones. Kole Carter, Ryan Terry (2), Marcus Moore (7) and Anthony Sipple. W-Terry (IP-4-2, H-6, R-2, ER-0, K-5, BB-0). Carter (IP-1.2, H-4, R-5, ER-5, K-4, BB-6). Save-Moore (IP-0.1, BB-1). L-Malone (K-2, BB-2, ER-7). Hitting-CG: Jacob Clark 2-4 rbi-2, Daniel Rutherford 1-3 rbi, Jeb Jones 3-4 rbi-2 2B, Dylan Malone 2-2 rbi, Darren Bloomfield 1-4, Cole Gannon 1-3; Gallia: Kole Carter 1-3 rbi, Matt Bailey 2-3, Anthony Sipple 1-4 rbi-2, Jeremy Brumfield 2-3 rbi, Ryan Terry 3-3 rbi-2, John Stout 1-4, Braden Simms 1-3.