Their season-opening tour of Warren County teams in nine days left the Logan County Cougars with a 4-1 record. Saturday.
Behind the pitching of Caleb Bruner and Matt Harper along with efficient use of scoring opportunities, the Logan County Cougars captured their 2015 season opener last Thursday, winning at Warren East 3-2.LCHSscored all three of its runs in the fifth inning. Harper drove in two runs with one of the hits. Catcher Jackson Campbellgot the other hit the Cougars managed. Bradley Taylor, Tucker Baldwin and Michael Riley scored the runs. Riley, Campbell, Harper and Daniel Beatypicked up walks. Matt Alford, Logan Selvidge, Davion Downey and Jonathan Biggs got the hits for East with Selvidge taking the loss in relief of Blake Carpenter. The Cougars played errorless ball.
Then came a 4-3 win over visiting Warren Central despite the Cougars committing five errors. Both teams got eight hits, but Logan made theirs count for one more run. The lead changed hands six times, the last coming when Harper scored on Hunter Britt’s bases-loaded walk in the sixth inning.
Jordan Hendrix got the win in relief, and Harper picked up the save. Britt pitched the first four innings, allowing five runs on six hits and four walks. Riley, Hendrix and Harper then each pitched a scoreless inning. Josh Floyd was the starter for Coach Derrick Harwood’s Dragons, and J.M. Lyle took the loss in relief.
After Central scored three runs in the first inning, Logan took the lead in the bottom of the inning on a two-run double by Beaty and a two-run single by Britt.
Bruner was a hitter instead of a pitcher in this one, getting three hits, including a double. Harper doubled among his two hits. And Beaty banged out the third double. Campbell and Britt also had hits. Luke Woodall walked four times and Riley twice. Taylor sacrificed, Harper and Taylor were hit by pitches, and Woodall, Harper and Bruner each stole a base.
Next came a 3-1 win over Greenwood. Baldwin scored what proved to be the winning run in the third inning on Britt’s single.
Hendrix got his second straight win, allowing one earned run, three hits and two walks while striking out two over seven innings of work. In the complete game, he threw 69 strikes on 111 pitches against 42 batters. Starter Ben Cole worked four innings and took the loss.
Campbell and Bruner each had two hits with Bruner doubling for one of his. Austin Rayno, Riley and Harper each singled. Baldwin scored two runs and Rayno the other. Kaleb Justice, Beaty and Britt walked. Rayno, a freshman, stole a base, and his cousin, Campbell, got an RBI on a sacrifice fly.
John Halcomb, Russ Kerr and Brett Christian managed the only hits for the Gators, and they were all singles. John Hicks sacrificed in Christian with the lone run for Coach Jason Jaggers’ Gators.
In the Cougars’ only loss so far, BGH was tough, not only winning but beating WKU-bound pitcher Bruner in the process. He gave up four runs (only two earned) on seven hits and three walks. Nick Wooden gave up five runs in relief. Hunter Crafton got the final out on two pitches.
Harper doubled and scored the lone Cougar run. Bruner singled him in. Britt managed the only other hit for Logan.
Tyler Stahl recorded the win for Bowling Green. He allowed one run over three innings. He struck out three, walked one and surrendered three hits. Jake Bush, Justin Gentry and Joseph McIntyre helped lead Bowling Green. They combined for six hits and four RBIs. The Purples stayed on top until the final out after taking the lead in the fourth, scoring two runs on an RBI single by Gentry. BGH increased its lead with two runs in the fifth. Bush's single got things going, scoring Ethan Wilson. Bowling Green built upon its lead with five runs in the seventh. The inning got off to a hot start when McIntyre doubled, scoring Wilson and Jackson Gooding. That was followed up by Gentry's single, bringing home Bush.
The Cougars finished their tour by crushing Glasgow 10-3 on the road Saturday, Coach Ethan Meguiar’s team banged out 16 hits, four of them doubles. Getting the two-baggers were Harper, Campbell, Baldwin and Bruner. They were part of four hits by Bruner, three by Baldwin, and two each by Kaleb Justice and Harper. Also getting hits were Britt, Taylor, Beaty and Rayno. Baldwin had two RBIs with Campbell, Taylor, Bruner, Beaty, Britt and Justice adding one each. Rayno sacrificed, Wooden was hit by a pitch and Harper stole a base.
Britt pitched the first four innings and got the win. Harper pitched the last three innings for the save, allowing only one each of hits and walks. He struck out six of the 15 batters he faced.
Lane Norris was the starting and losing pitcher for the Coach Sam Royse’s Scotties. Pudge Morgan and Dylan Hernandez each got two of Glasgow’s seven hits.
The Cougars play their first district game Tuesday against visiting Todd Central.
(All statistics are provided by Assistant Coach Adam Decker.)