Ironton feeling good after district win over Huntsmen

Published 12:00 am Sunday, May 18, 2003

McDERMOTT -- It was a "feel good" performance for the Ironton Fighting Tigers.

Matt White felt good as he did the pitch, and catcher Greg Mountain had a good feeling about his key hit, and Ironton is feeling good following an 8-3 win Friday over the Huntington Ross Huntsmen in the Division III district semifinals.

White struck out nine, walked two, and gave up seven hits as he improved to 5-4 on the season. Mountain went 2-3 including a run-scoring double that broke a tie and propelled Ironton to the win.

"I felt good, but I had a new pitch. I used a sidearm slider. It was working great," White said.

Mountain had an RBI double that helped initiated a 6-run fourth inning that blew the game open. Mountain was the only Ironton player with two hits.

"That was the best ball I've hit all year. It felt better coming off my bat than any of my hits. It was a big hit because it helped break the game open," Mountain said.

Despite scoring eight runs, Ironton had just six hits. But Derek Moore had a two-run single and Tyler Whaley cracked a three-run double.

"We didn't have a lot of hits, but we had some big hits," Ironton coach Mark Lewis said. "They walked six and we took advantage of it. We stepped up when we had to.

"And I thought White pitched well. He threw strikes and shut them down for the most part. They only hit three or four balls hard the whole game."

Ironton, 16-9, will play the Minford-Lucasville Valley winner at 5 p.m. Thursday at Northwest High School.

The Fighting Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the second when Josh Sands singled, stole second, went to third on Mountain's infield hit, and scored on Jeff Parnell's ground out.

The Huntsmen tied the game in the top of the third.

Brett Stout walked, moved to second when Zach Bowling put down a sacrifice bunt, took third on a ground out, and came home when Aaron Chaney just barely beat out an infield hit.

Then came the fourth.

With one out Sands walked and raced around to score on Mountain's screaming double into the left field corner. Parnell and Chris Collins walked to load the bases, and Moore's bate hit scored two.

Kevin Williams walked to reload the bases and Whaley lashed a double to right-center to clear the bases and make it 7-1.

Ironton's final run scored in the sixth.

Nick Collins singled, Chris Collins walked, and when Williams hit into a force play, Nick Collins moved to third and then scored when the return throw to first base sailed past the first baseman and into the Ross' dugout.

The Huntsmen got two runs in the seventh.

J. D. Cooper singled, Stout was safe on an error, Zach Bowling had an infield hit to load the bases, Justin Eyre hit into a force place as a run scored, and Stout scored when Eyre stole second base.

Hunt. Ross0010002--371

Ironton010601x--861

Isaac Wireman, Aaron Chaney (4) and Dustin Chapman. Matt White and Greg Mountain. W-White 5-4 (9-K, 2-W, 2-ER). L-Wireman (1-K, 2-W, 3-ER, 3-H). Chaney (5-R, 3-ER, 4-H, 1-K, 4-W). WP-Chaney. SB-Hunt. Ross: Casey Keller, Justin Eyre; Ironton: Josh Sands, Derek Moore, Nick Collins. Sac-Hunt. Ross: Zach Bowling. 2B-Ironton: Greg Mountain, Tyler Whaley. LOB-Hunt. Ross 6, Ironton 4. Hitting-Hunt. Ross: Justin Eyre 1-4, Aaron Chaney 2-4, Dustin Chapman 1-2, Aaron Hopkins 1-3,

J. D. Cooper 1-3, Zach Bowling 1-2; Ironton: Derek Moore 1-4 (2 RBI), Tyler Whaley 1-4 (3 RBI), Josh Sands 1-2, Greg Mountain 2-3 (RBI), Nick Collins 1-3.