DISTRICT BASEBALL

The Corbin Redhounds and South Laurel Cardinals advanced to the 50^th District baseball finals Monday night. Corbin downed Williamsburg, 6-0, while South Laurel eliminated the Whitley County Colonels, 8-3.

Corbin 6, Williamsburg 0: In the first game of the night, the Redhounds jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the second then held off the Yellow Jackets for a six-run victory.

Senior Ben Jones got the start on the mound and allowed just three runs on three hits. “Ben Jones does not beat himself and that is how you win this game,” said Corbin Coach Rob Ledington. “He walked just one batter and gave up three hits. We made plays behind him. He works fast and our defense stays in rhythm. He has been the man for us all year long.”

“Our seniors, Ben House, Ben Jones and Cody Duncum have carried us all season long with limited playing time up until this year,” said Ledington. “So, I am extremely proud of those guys.”

Williamsburg (12-21) found it tough going against the Corbin defense. Only one hitter, Jared Barton, was able to get on base in the first two innings.

Williamsburg starter, Andrew Root, kept the Redhounds (21-16) in check in the first inning, but an error-plagued second saw Corbin post four runs. Travis Smith hit into an infield error to lead off the bottom of the second. Josh Coppock followed with a double to center field.

Corbin scored its first run when Vinny Hoover’s grounder to third was misplayed. Then an over throw to first on a Brady Foley hit back up the middle allowed Coppock to score. Jones helped his own cause with a RBI single down the third base line, sending Hoover across the plate for a 3-0 lead.

Foley scored the final run of the inning on a sacrifice grounder to second.

Jones saw his bid for a no-hitter spoiled when Cody Perkins smacked a base hit in the top of the fourth.

Ledington was pleased with his team’s defense. “Anything less than three errors is an outstanding defensive effort,” said Ledington. “That’s one of the things we harp on all the time. If you don’t walk anybody and make three errors or less, you are going to beat people. And, that’s what happened today.”

“I want to remind everybody, even though they were the number four seed, this is without a doubt the toughest district in our region,” said Ledington. “Everybody will agree with that, we worked hard to get the number one seed, then we get a team that beat Middlesboro and Clay County in the last week of the season.”

“They competed their tails off against us today,” said Ledington.

Williamsburg Coach Don Stricklin had hoped Root would give them a couple of good innings before bringing Barton in against the Redhounds. “We wanted to get two or three innings in where Barton could finish strong.”

“But, when you get zero runs it doesn’t matter,” Stricklin said. “We didn’t get many opportunities to hit the ball. It was a well pitched game.”

“We just popped everything up,” said Stricklin. “And, there is nothing wrong with that, he (Jones) just pitched a good game.”

“If we had not made those error there in the second inning it could have been a one or two-run game then we could have had a chance to bunt and move runners and do some other things, but we never got that chance,” said Stricklin.

“It was a tough loss, but I am proud of where we came from, early in the year to this, competing with teams like this,” said Stricklin. “We can compete now and everybody is back but one.
We played a unbelievable schedule and finished 12-21,” said Stricklin. “I wish we could play 20-more games right now. You’ve got to like what the young man did and how far they came this season.”

The Redhounds added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth and sixth. House was hit by a pitch to lead off the fifth. He scored on a one-out double to left field by Vorbeck.

In the sixth, Drew Farley hit a two-out single to left field then scored on a House hit to center field.

South Laurel 8, Whitley Co. 3: The South Laurel Cardinals scored three runs in the top of the first and never allowed Whitley County to get any closer than two runs.

The Colonels started the game with an infield error that allowed Trent Abner aboard for the Cardinals.

Matt Sage, the Whitley County starter, got the next two batters to ground out as Abner moved over to third. Matthew Gilbert pushed Abner home with a single to left field to get the Cardinals on the scoreboard.

Cody Baker and Mackenzie Hicks followed with back-to-back base hits to give South Laurel a 3-0 lead.

Whitley County answered in the bottom of the first when Jeremy Berta reached base on a one-out error at second. He went to second on a passed ball and to third on a Dirk Berta base hit. He scored on a wild pitch for the 3-1 score.

Sage got in a groove over the next three innings, striking out seven South Laurel batters. But, it was back to the top of the order in the fifth for the Cardinals and they responded with two more runs. Abner hit a single in the hole at first and Ryan Reynolds moved the runner to second with a sacrifice bunt.

Adams followed with a double to center field scoring Abner. Adams scored on an infield error as the Cardinals took a 5-1 lead.

Whitley County started the bottom of the sixth off with a bang. Jeremy Daniels led off with a single down the third base line. Jeremy Berta followed with a double and runners were in scoring position.

Travis Inman’s grounder to short scored Daniels and Dirk Berta’s sacrifice to second scored his brother, Jeremy, but the Colonels were down to two outs. Justin Partin tried to rally the Colonels, but popped out to short.

South Laurel put the game away with three runs in the top of the seventh. Abner led off with a single and Sage walked Reynolds. A triple by Adams put the Cardinals ahead 7-3.

Adams later scored on a controversial play at the plate for the 8-3 margin.

Whitley County closed out the season with a 17-10 record, their best since the 2005 season when they went 21-12 and lost in the 13^th region semifinals.

The Colonels will lose four players via graduation, Jeremy Berta, Jeremy Daniels, Anthony Greenlee and Matt Sage.

Corbin 6, Williamsburg 0

Williamsburg            000  000  0- 3  3  3

Corbin                 040  011  x- 6  7  2

   Andrew Root, Jared Barton (3) and Mich Purdie, Andrew Root. Ben Jones and Cody Duncum. W-Jones, L-Root. 2B-Josh Coppock (C), Trace Vorbeck (C).

South Laurel 8, Whitley Co. 3

South Laurel            300  020  3- 8  8  1

Whitley Co.            100  002  0- 3  5  3

   Cody Baker and Steve Simpson. Matt Sage and Dirk Berta. W-Baker, L-Sage. 2B-Baker (SL), Adams (SL), Harris (WC), Berta (WC). 3B-Adams (SL).