On a day when his grandfather died, the Ironton Fighting Tigers sophomore pitcher turned in a brilliant effort Monday to shutout the Ashland Tomcats 1-0.

Tuesday, April 11, 2000

On a day when his grandfather died, the Ironton Fighting Tigers sophomore pitcher turned in a brilliant effort Monday to shutout the Ashland Tomcats 1-0.

"That was a heck of an effort by Parker," Ironton coach Mark Lewis said. "He threw strikes and never gave in. You’ve got to give him a lot of credit to throw that well under the circumstances.

"Obviously, he was upset, but he wanted to pitch."

Parker must have been pitching for his papa Jack Parker. He gave up five hits, struck out two, and walked only one. He threw 77 pitches, 52 for strikes.

Ashland’s Dustin Allgood was just as impressive as he pitched a four-hitter, struck out four, walked one, and hit two batters. The game’s only run was unearned.

"Their kid pitched well," said Lewis. "But the thing I like is we continued to compete. This bunch just keeps battling every game."

Ironton, 5-1, got the game’s only run in the sixth inning.

Catcher Jon Sites legged out a slow roller down the third base line for a base hit. He stole second, went to third on a passed ball, and scored when Jimmy Peyton reached on a throwing error.

The Fighting Tigers had only two other runners reach second base. Parker doubled in the first but was left stranded, and Greg Mountain walked in the third and was sacrificed to second by Drew Mains.

Ashland (5-5) had runners reach second in the fourth with a pair of singles, the fifth on a hit and a sacrifice bunt, and in the sixth on a walk and sacrifice bunt.

Ironton hosts Rock Hill Tuesday.

Ashland 000 000 0 – 0 5 1

Ironton 000 001 x – 1 4 1

Allgood and Stewart. Chad Parker and Jon Sites. W-Parker 2-0 (2-K, 1-W). L-Allgood (4-K, 1-W, 2-HBP). 2B-Ironton: Chad Parker. Hitting-Ashland: Hayes Templeton 2-2, Matt Davis 2-3, Kyle Stewart 1-3; Ironton: Jon Sites 1-2, Chad Parker 1-3, Josh Harmon 1-3, Matt White 1-2. SB-Ironton: Jon Sites, Josh Harmon. Sac-Ashland: Tabor, Hieneman; Ironton: Drew Mains.