This was no fishing story, but it was a story with a bad ending as the Ironton Fighting Tigers let several scoring opportunities slip away in a 5-3 loss Wednesday to the Lawrence County Bulldogs.

Thursday, May 04, 2000

This was no fishing story, but it was a story with a bad ending as the Ironton Fighting Tigers let several scoring opportunities slip away in a 5-3 loss Wednesday to the Lawrence County Bulldogs.

Ironton left eight runners stranded including the potential tying runs in the seventh inning. To make matters worse, two defensive errors led to a pair of unearned runs.

"We had opportunities and we didn’t take advantage of them," Ironton coach Mark Lewis said. "Lawrence County took advantage of its chances, but we helped them out. We didn’t play that poorly, we just had a couple of mistakes, and you can’t do that against a good team. We can’t afford to make those kind of mistakes and beat a good team."

The loss was hung on Josh Harmon (2-2) who deserved a better fate. Harmon struck out three, walked two, and only three of the four runs he allowed were earned. Reliever Mark Mains went three innings, striking out one, walking one, and allowing three hits. The only run he allowed was unearned.

"Harmon and Mains gave us a good effort. They threw strikes and made them put the ball in play. We walked three guys, so I can’t complain about our pitching," said Lewis.

Ironton got a run in the second when Harmon walked, stole second, and scored on Greg Mountain’s base hit.

Lawrence County scored four times in the third to take the lead for good.

Chris Pope doubled, Adam Blevins singled, and Steve Castle hit a two-run double.

T. J. Caudill reached on a fielder’s choice, Adam Kirk walked, and Caudill went to third on a wild pitch. Kirk stole second and a throwing error allowed Caudill to score. Ryan Salmons had a base hit to drive in the final run.

The Fighting Tigers got a run back in the fourth when Mountain reached on an error that put him on second base where he scored on Jimmy Peyton’s double off the fence in left.

Ironton cut the gap to 4-3 in the top of the sixth when Harmon walked, moved up on ground out, and scored on Mark Mains’ base hit.

But the Bulldogs got an unearned run in the bottom of the inning to create some breathing room.

Pope and Castle singled to put runners at first and third, and the run scored when Caudill reached on a two-out error.

Drew Mains walked and Clark Cooper singled to start a rally in the top of the seventh for Ironton, and reliever Bradley Opell came on to strike out the next two batters. He struck out a third, but the third strike bounced in the dirt and the batter reached to load the bases.

Opell then ended the game by getting the next hitter to pop out to first.

Cooper was 2-4 as Ironton had six hits.

Ironton, 10-8, hosts Russell, Ky., Thursday and entertains Oak Hill at 5 p.m. Friday in the Division III sectional tournament.

Ironton 010 101 0 – 3 6 2

Lawrence Co. 004 001 x – 5 9 3

Josh Harmon, Mark Mains (4) and Jon Sites. Steve Castle, Chris Pope (6), Bradley Opell (7) and Eric Parker. W-Castle (3-K, 2-W, 5-H, 5-H, 1-ER). L-Harmon 2-2 (3-K, 2-W, 3-ER). Save-Opell (3-K, 0-W). WP-Pope, Opell. 2B-Ironton: Jimmy Peyton; LC: Chris Pope, Steve Castle. LOB-Ironton 8, Lawrence Co. 8. SB-Ironton: Josh Harmon; LC: T. J. Caudill. Hitting-Ironton: Clark Cooper 2-4, Jon Sites 1-4, Chad Parker 1-4, Greg Mountain 1-4 (RBI), Jimmy Peyton 1-3, Mark Mains 1-2 (RBI); Lawrence County: Adam Blevins 1-4, Steve Castle 2-4 (2 RBI), T. J. Caudill 1-4, Bradley Opell 1-2, Ryan Sammons 2-3 (RBI), Chris Pope 2-3.