Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

When pitching gets exhausted, these are the kind of games that happen.
The Coal Grove Hornets outscored the Ironton Fighting Tigers 19-11 in an Ohio Valley Conference game on Wednesday called after six innings due to darkness.
Coal Grove (3-2, 2-2) had 14 hits en route to the win.
“We hit the ball really well. We had eight different batters in the lineup get a hit,” said Hornets’ coach Dean Mader.
“Jeb (Jones) came in and battled. We didn’t play well defensively and he just worked his way through it.”
Ironton (1-4, 1-3) also had 14 hits
Coal Grove took a 4-0 keyed by Zack Landers’ three-run triple.
Ironton tied the game with four runs in the bottom of the inning on RBI singles by Garrett Carrico and Brycen Thomas and a two-run hit by Cameron Deere.
The Hornets got two runs in the fourth on an RBI single by Ben Compliment and a balk.
Ironton tied the game in the bottom of the inning on a walk to Collin Freeman, a Gage Salyers’ walk, a passed ball and two runs scoring when Tanner Bowles reached on an error and a throwing error.
Coal Grove took the lead for good with five runs in the fifth.
Evan Gannon singled, Tait Matney walked and Jordan Case had an RBI single. Compliment walked, Brady Doyle singled in a run, an error scored a run and Gannon had an RBI single.
Ironton got two runs back in the bottom of the inning when Thomas walked and Deere, Blankenship and Freeman all reached on errors.
The Hornets opened the game up with eight runs in the sixth.
Sam Angelo and Jones singled, Darin Bloomfield and Compliment walked for a run, Doyle had an RBI single and a throwing error scored a run.
Landers singled and another error scored a run. Gannon singled for a run, a passed ball scored a run, Matney singled, Case was hit by a pitch, and Jones and Bloomfield walked to force in runs.
Ironton did score three runs in the sixth when Ayden Barnes, Thomas, Brady Rowe and Blankenship all singled for a run, a throwing error scored another run and Freeman singled in the final run.
On Friday, Ironton visits Fairland and Coal Grove hosts South Point.
Coal Grove    400    258    =    19    14    6
Ironton       400    223    =    11    14    4
Tait Matney, Jeb Jones (2) and Jeb Jones, Ben Compliment (2). Ethan Duncan, Gage Salyers (1), Tanner Bowles (5), Joel Blankenship (6) and Brycen Thomas. W-Jones (IP-5.0, H-9, K-1, BB-3, ER-3). Matney (IP-1.0, H-5, R-4, BB-1). L-Salyers (IP-3.1, H-4, K-3, BB-4, ER-5). Duncan (IP-0.2, H-2, ER-4, K-1, BB-4). Bowles (IP-1.2, H-7, ER-7, BB-4). Blankenship (IP-0.1, H-1, K-1, BB-2). Hitting-CG: Jordan Case 2-5 rbi, Sam Angelo 1-5, Jeb Jones 1-2 4-bb rbi, Ben Compliment 2-4 2B 2-rbi, Brady Doyle 2-3 4-rbi, Zack Landers 2-5 3B 3-rbi, Evan Gannon 3-4 2-rbi, Tait Matney 1-4; Ironton: Gage Salyers 2-4, Tanner Bowles 1-3 rbi, Garrett Carrico 1-4 rbi, Reid Carrico 1-4, Ayden Barnes 2-4, Brycen Thomas 2-3 rbi, Cameron Deere 1-3 2-rbi, Brady Rowe 1-1, Joel Blankenship 1-2 rbi, Collin Freeman 2-4 3-rbi.