Colonels Stung

The Middlesboro Yellow Jackets got a bit of revenge on the Whitley County Colonels Monday at WCHS. The Yellow Jackets scored five runs in the top of the third inning and went on to roll over the Colonels, 10-5.
Errors proved to haunt the Colonels as Middlesboro scored five runs in the top of the third on three hits and two big mistakes.
Whitley County (15-11) tried to battle back when Mark Comparoni led off the bottom of the inning with a single. Cody Jones went into run for Comparoni and stole second. He scored on a Ryan Fox sacrifice to leftfield.
The Colonels struck again in the bottom of the fourth when Jonathan Bowman walked and went to second on a Middlesboro error. Derek Shelley reached on an infield error and the two scored on an Adam Adkins double to right field.
The Colonels were retired when Dustin Huddleston lined out to the Middlesboro shortstop, who stepped on second and got the double play.
Middlesboro picked up the pace in the late innings, scoring two runs in the fifth and sixth innings for a 9-3 lead. The 10th run came in the top of the seventh after Casey Earls was hit by Matt Strickland. Strickland also hit Tolliver before getting Breeding on a strike out. Partin hit into an infield error and Brooks smacked a single past second for a 10-3 score.
The Colonels rallied in the seventh. Adkins led off with a double that got past the Middlesboro left fielder. After Huddleston lined out, Comparoni got his third hit of the game. Strickland moved the runners into scoring position and Fox answered with a double as Whitley County cut the lead in half.
However, Paul Johnson’s deep fly to left field ended the game.
“We just got out hit,” said Whitley County coach John Smith. “I told them not to get down, we’ll see them in regional play.”
“I think we’re just tired,” said Smith. “We played a lot of games in April and we should be able to get some rest this week.”
The Colonels go to Knox Central today then go to Bell County Thursday. They will have the weekend off before going to Berea Tuesday.
“We did this same thing last year,” said Smith. “We averaged 15 runs a game and went on a five game skid late in the year then picked it back up and went on to the regional final.”
The Colonels have lost two in a row. They lost a heartbreaker to North Laurel (4-3) back on May 3.

Middlesboro 005 022 1- 10 10 6
Whitley Co. 001 200 2- 5 5 4
Pittman and Buckham. Shelley, Strickland (7) and Comparoni. W-Pittman, L-Shelley. 2B-Adkins (WC), Fox (WC), Earls (M), Brooks (M), House (M).