Ironton bounces back to win
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, April 30, 2003
Now, that's better.
After an unemotional performance on Monday, the Ironton Fighting Tigers bounced back to beat the South Point Pointers 10-4 Tuesday.
"We played a little better today than Monday, but we still weren't as focused as we need to be," Ironton coach Mark Lewis said. "We need to get back to where we were. There's about one week left before we get into tournament play."
Ironton (11-7) had 10 hits led by Tyler Whaley who went 2-4 including his seventh home run of the season. He drove in three runs.
Derek Moore was 2-4 with a double, Greg Mountain went 2-4, and Jameson McKnight was 2-3 with a couple of runs scored.
Ironton started slow for the second straight day as South Point took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
Seth Craft singled, moved up on a couple of ground outs and scored on Staton's base hit.
But the Fighting Tigers came back with three runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead for good.
Kevin Williams singled and Whaley homered for a 2-1 lead. Josh Sands reached on a two-out error and scored on Mountain's base hit.
The lead went to 5-1 in the second inning.
McKnight singled and moved around to third on a pair of passed balls to start the rally. Moore walked and then Williams grounded out as the run scored. Moore went to third on an error and scored on Whaley's rocket line drive off the pitcher.
South Point got a run in the third on a RBI single by Staton after walks to Wes Patterson and Clifton Lovejoy.
Ironton answered with two runs of its own in the bottom of the inning.
Chris Collins was hit by a pitch, McKnight and Moore singled for a run, and Williams grounded out as the runner scored.
The Pointers got their final two runs in the top of the fourth inning.
Smith and Josh Tibbetts singled and Lawson grounded out as a run scored. Patterson's base hit scored the second run.
Again, Ironton matched the Pointers with two runs of its own.
White tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Josh Sands. Mountain singled, went to third on a pair of passed balls and scored on a wild pitch.
The final run scored in the fifth when Whaley doubled and White was safe on an error.
Nick Collins, 4-0, got the win as he struck out seven, walked four and gave up eight hits.
"Nick wasn't at his best. He did bear down when he had to and made some good pitches," Lewis said.
Freshman Justin Smith took the loss as he struck out four, walked five, gave up 10 hits and only five of the runs were earned.
"I'm really proud of the way Justin Smith pitched," Pointers coach Kevin Milem said. "For a freshman, he stepped up against a top-notch team and did an excellent job."
Smith also went 2-4 at the plate. Tyler Staton was 2-3.
On Wednesday, Ironton (11-7) is at Spring Valley, W.Va.,
while South Point (1-9) hosts Chesapeake in an Ohio Valley Conference game.
South Point1012000-484
Ironton322210x-10102
Justin Smith and Justin Workman. Nick Collins and Derek Moore. W-Collins 4-0 (7-K, 4-W, 4-ER). L-Smith (4-K, 5-W, 5-ER). 2B-South Point: Caleb Copley; Ironton: Derek Moore, Tyler Whaley. 3B-Ironton: Matt White. HR-Ironton: Tyler Whaley (7). SB-Ironton: Greg Mountain 2, Chris Collins 2, Matt White, Kevin Williams. SF-Ironton: Josh Sands. Hitting-South Point: Seth Craft 1-4, Caleb Copley 1-4, Tyler Staton 2-3, Justin Smith 2-4, Josh Tibbetts 1-4, Wes Patterson 1-2; Ironton: Derek Moore 2-4, Kevin Williams 1-4 (2 RBI), Tyler Whaley 2-4 (3 RBI), Matt White 1-3, Josh Sands, Greg Mountain 2-4, Jameson McKnight 2-3.