CHESHIRE - Keeping pace.

The Coal Grove Hornets remained tied for first place in the Ohio Valley Conference by beating the River Valley Raiders 6-5 Monday behind the six-hit pitching of Tommy Pemberton.

Coal Grove is 6-7 overall and shares the OVC lead with Fairland at 5-1.

"That was a good win for us," Hornets coach John Jones said. "We had to win to keep pace and we were able to do that."

Pemberton struck out 10 and walked three in going the distance. The Hornets banged out 12 hits to back Pemberton with Pemberton going 3-4 including the game-winning RBI, Tim Elliott 2-4, and Matt Winters 2-2.

River Valley went up 1-0 in the second with one out as Yost doubled and Brown singled.

Coal Grove bounced back with three runs in the top of the third to take the lead for good.

Colton Hitchcock and Winters singled and Randy Wise had an RBI double. Pemberton then doubled home two more runs.

The Raiders got a run back in the bottom of the inning to make it 3-2 when Hollanbaugh singled, stole second, and came home on a two-out error.

Coal Grove then got single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth to extend the lead to 6-2.

In the fourth, Elliott doubled and Winters had a two-out single.

Pemberton, Matt Spears and Nick Bazell all singled in the fifth to make it 5-2.

The winning run scored in the sixth when Winters walked, Aaron Kelly singled, and Pemberton had a two-out RBI base hit.

River Valley rallied with three runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Yost walked with one out, Ward was safe on an error, and Brown walked to load the bases. Spaulding singled home two runs and Clark hit into a fielder's choice scoring Brown.

But Pemberton got a ground out and a strikeout to end the rally.

The Raiders got a runner on with two outs in the seventh, but Winters, the Hornets catcher, threw out the runner trying to steal to end the game.

Coal Grove plays at St. Joseph Tuesday and hosts Fairland Wednesday in a pivotal league game.

Coal Grove0031110-6122

River Valley0110030-561

Tommy Pemberton and Matt Winters. Brown and Graham. W-Pemberton (10-K, 3-W). L:-Brown (3-K, 1-W). 2B-Coal Grove: Wise, Tommy Pemberton, Tim Elliott; RV: Yost. 3B-Coal Grove: Tim Elliott. Hitting-Coal Grove: Randy Wise 1-4, Tommy Pemberton 3-4, Matt Spears 1-4, Nick Bazell 1-3, Tim Elliott 2-4, Colton Hitchcock 1-3, Matt Winters 2-2, Aaron Kelly 1-2; River Valley: Hollanbaugh 1-4, Graham 1-4, Yost 1-2, Brown 1-2, Spaulding 2-2.