Published: March 25, 2008 11:44 pm            

Maroons win opener over Corbin 7-4

Somerset — It wasn’t exactly baseball weather when Coach Scott McAninch’s Pulaski County Maroons baseball team opened the 2008 season late Tuesday afternoon. The temperature was in the 30’s and the wind velocity was in the 20’s. But nobody dressed in Maroon seemed to mind, because the Maroons were in the win column.

The Maroons scored six times in the second inning, and Brad Greer pitched five solid innings of relief to lead PC to a 7-4 victory over the visiting Corbin Redhounds.

In the early stages, however, Corbin threatened to take control of the game. Pulaski started their stud right-hander Jeremy Smith but the fireballer showed a bit of rust after having to miss some recent workouts. Redhounds Corey Sewell and Clint Cashen had back-to-back one out singles in the first to put runners at the corners. But when Josh Smith flew out to right center the Maroons were able to cut down the base runner at first and turn the double play to get out of the inning.

The second inning was the pivotal inning in the game. The top of the inning began rather ominously, as Smith struck out left-fielder Britt Brittain on a pitch in the dirt which got away from the catcher. A miscommunication on a pickoff attempt led to an error which put Brittain at second. After the next two hitters singled and walked, the Redhounds had the bases loaded with no one out. An infield error on a double play attempt allowed two runs to score on the next play. But Smith worked out of the jam when Sewell lined out to first baseman Caleb Rowe to end the inning.

Trailing 2-0, the Maroons answered back. After a leadoff error the Maroons worked two walks. Now they had the bases loaded with no outs. How would they cash in? Before the inning was out the Maroons parlayed four walks, a wild pitch, a balk, an error, a stolen base, a poor decision on a fielder’s choice, and a solid two-run single off the bat of #9 hitter Brad Greer into a six-run inning.

“That one big inning was the story of the game for us,” said McAninch. “And that was a big hit by Brad Greer. If we can continue to get that kind of production out of the bottom of our lineup, we’ll have a step up on the competition.”

That wasn’t the only contribution the senior second baseman made. McAninch called on him to take the mound in the third and he responded by retiring the side in order. He then shut them down in the fourth inning on just a single, and it was obvious the scatter-shot second inning was now in the rearview mirror.

The Maroons made it 7-2 in the bottom of the fourth when junior Kyle Howard led off with a single and came around to score on a Ronnie Claiborne sacrifice fly.

Corbin wasn’t finished though. The picked up three hits in the fifth, including the game’s only extra-base hit, an RBI triple by Brittain, and tallied a pair of runs to move back within striking distance at 7-4. Meanwhile, the Redhounds relievers, Ben Jones and Josh Smith, had slowed the Maroons offense to a few scattered hits. The outcome of the game rested back on the shoulders of Greer.

After the rough two-run fifth, Greer settled back down, allowing only a walk in the sixth. But the seventh started out poorly for the senior.

Sewell and Cashen had back-to-back singles—the third time they had done that in the game—bringing the tying run to the plate with nobody out. But Greer got cleanup hitter Josh Smith to ground into a fielder’s choice. Then, after the Maroon outfield secured back-to-back fly outs, the threat was over as quickly as it started, and the Maroons walked off the field winners in their opening contest of the season, 7-4.

“We told these guys if they didn’t walk the other team and they made contact at the plate, they would be in every game we play,” said McAninch. “That’s the reason we won the ball game. I thought both our guys on the mound did a good job of throwing strikes. I was really happy with that.”

For the game, Pulaski’s pitchers walked only three batters. That was the big reason why the Maroons prevailed, despite being out hit 9-4.

“Corbin is a perennially good baseball team,” added McAninch. “They swung the bats really well out there today. We just made most of the plays we had to, and had some hit right at us. I wasn’t as happy with the way we swung the bats, but it was cold and the first game of the season. So, hopefully we’ll improve at the plate.”

The Maroons will try to make it two for two when they take the field next on Thursday at 5:30 when they host the Wayne County Cardinals.





C 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 — 4 9 2

PC 0 6 0 1 0 0 x — 7 4 3



Corbin — Salmons IP 2, R 6, H 1, K 2, BB 4. Jones IP 2, R 1, H 1, K 0, BB 0. Smith IP 2, R 0, H 2, K 1, BB 0.

3B—Brittain. RBI—Brittain. SB—Sewell, Smith, Hendrickson.

Pulaski Co.— Smith IP 2, R 2, H 3, K 1, BB 2. Greer IP 5, R 2, H 6, K 3, BB 1.

RBI—Greer 2, Claiborne 2, Howard. SB — Claiborne

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.