Pulaski remains undefeated with 12-0 win over Cardinals

By TIM HYDEN, CJ Sports Writer
Commonwealth Journal

Somerset Sat, May 17 2008

— When spring finally gets here it usually signals the beginning of growth as life springs forth into the world. Thursday, the Pulaski County Maroons played their first game in Spring-like weather, and with the change in weather a new life seemed to “spring” into their bats.
Coach Shane Blevins brought the defending 48th District Champion Wayne Co. Cardinals to Somerset hoping to hand Coach Scott McAninch’s troops their first loss of the season. But the Maroons had other ideas.
Behind a balanced 11-hit attack, and the pitching of Cain Troxell and Steven Dowell, PC clipped the Cardinals wings, shutting them out 12-0.
“Wayne County won their district last year,” said McAninch. “So you know they have a winning program. But they lost five or six important seniors last year, so they’re still learning to win with the players they have back.”
“I thought offensively we hit the ball a lot better today. We hit more line drives. That’s a positive.”
The tone of the game was set in the first inning. After only allowing a base runner by error in the top of the inning, Pulaski took control immediately, and it seemed similar to the big 6-run second inning the Maroons had against Corbin in their opener. In that game the Maroons managed only one hit in scoring the six spot. Again the PC lineup proved they knew how to take advantage of an opponent’s miscues.
In the bottom of the first the Maroons tallied four runs thanks to two walks, two errors, a balk, four wild pitches, and two big hits. After #2 hitter Cain Troxell drew a walk, Jeremy Smith doubled into the left-center gap to score the game’s first run. Later in the inning sophomore Mikey Shepherd’s RBI double drove in the fourth run of the inning.
There was a dark lining to the inning, however. Despite struggling with his control, Cardinal pitcher Tyler Stokes managed to strike out four Maroons in the inning. (Charles Hines reached first and eventually scored after striking out on a pitch in the dirt.) The lack of contact was something McAninch stressed his team needed to avoid to be successful.
“On the negative side, we struck out seven times in the game,” said McAninch. “That’s just giving up outs, and great teams don’t give up outs. We were fortunate today that we had timely hits, and we drew some walks that helped us out. But we need to do better at the plate when we get two strikes against us.”
For the visiting Cardinals this game, unfortunately, must have seemed like the movie “Groundhog Day”. Freshman pitcher Cain Troxell shuts them down in the top of the inning—PC scores four runs in the bottom of the inning. Next inning, same thing. Third inning, same thing.
When Troxell’s day on the mound was over he had pitched three innings of one-hit ball, striking out five, walking just one, and leading 12-0. The only time they threatened to score off Troxell was in the second. After striking out the leadoff hitter, Troxell walked the #6 hitter. Then he coaxed an infield grounder that could have ended the inning, but the fielder rushed to try to turn two and fumbled the grounder. With two on, however, the freshman answered the call by striking out the next two hitters and preserving the early shutout bid.
“I thought Cain threw really well today,” McAninch responded. “We preach to our pitchers that they need to pitch to contact. That’s exactly what he did. He threw strikes. And he really responded well in the second when Wayne was threatening. That’s encouraging to see out of a freshman.
“This early in the season we wanted to keep Cain’s pitch count under 50. So we took him out after three innings and brought in Dowell. And Steven did a great job for us too. Cain and Steven both did what we ask of them, which is to throw strikes.”
Sophomore Steven Dowell pitched the last two innings, allowing just one hit and walking only one while striking out three. When the Maroons led by twelve after the top of the fifth, the ten-run rule kicked in and PC walked away with an unscathed 2-0 record.
Offensively, the Maroons had more runs than hits for the second straight game. But Thursday’s 12-0 win wasn’t just an opportunistic victory. The Maroons hammered out eleven hits. Ronnie Claiborne, Jeremy Smith, Charles Hines, and Mikey Shepherd had two hits apiece to lead the way. Smith and Shepherd had two RBI’s apiece as well.
“Mikey Shepherd really played well today,” added McAninch. “He’s just a sophomore, and he’s been battling a nagging wrist injury, but we expect big things from him.
“More than what he did at the plate, I was more impressed with his play in the field, especially the one in the fourth inning.” On that play, Shepherd charged in from his third base position to bare hand a weak chopper and gun the runner out at first for the third out of the inning.
The Maroons try to keep their winning ways going this afternoon at 5:30 as the Lynn Camp Wildcats comes to town. Then PC will take on Whitley County early Saturday afternoon before departing for Cocoa Beach, Florida on their Spring Break Baseball Trip.


WC 000 00 = 0 2 2
PC 444 0* = 12 11 2
Wayne Co.
Stokes IP 1.1, R 8, H 6, K 4, BB 2, WP 6, HBP 1, BLK 1.
Sumpter IP 1.2, R 4, H 4, K 3, BB 3, WP 3.
Turpin IP 1, R 0, H 1, K 0, BB 0.

Pulaski Co.
Troxell IP 3, R 0, H 1, K 5, BB 1.
Dowell IP 2, R 0, H 1, K 3, BB 1.
2B—Smith, Shepherd
SB—Claiborne, C. Hines
RBI—Smith 2, Shepherd 2, Troxell, C. Hines, Rowe, Hargis.

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