The Covington Buccaneers survived some uneasy moments to outscore Lehman, 12-6.

April 20, 2007 – FORT LORAMIE
In spite of some rough spots, the Covington Buccaneers doubled up Lehman at Fort Loramie on Friday to remain unbeaten and set up a huge match-up with Minster on Saturday.

"We made some mental errors tonight that could have cost us," said Covington coach Mitch Hirsch after his Buccaneers picked up a 12-6 win. "Fortunately we were able to get out of a couple of jams and put runs on the board."

One jam Hirsch was referring too came after Lehman had cut a 4-0 deficit to 6-5 in the bottom of the fifth. The Cavaliers had runners on first and second with no outs, but Brian Beckstedt entered the game in relief of Andy Sparks and struck out three straight batters to end the threat.

"That was huge, said Hirsch. "Another hit right there could have tied the score or given them the lead."

The Buccs then responded with a big inning in the top of the sixth by scoring four runs to take a 10-5 lead. The big hit came with the bases loaded as David Moss drilled a line shot right over the third base line to clear the bases.

"That was the dagger," Hirsch described. "We batted around and scored four runs after they had cut the lead to one. We should have had more, but we left the bases loaded."

After holding Lehman scoreless in the sixth, Covington added two more runs in the seventh to increase the cushion. The Cavaliers did score one more run in the bottom of the seventh to make the final score 12-6.

The Buccaneers received a solid effort from Gene Studebaker as he went 3 for 4 and scored 3 runs.

"Gene's getting his confidence back," said Hirsch. "He swung the bat well tonight."

Sparks started for Covington on the mound and pitched four innings in picking up the win. He struck out three and walked three.

Brian Beckstedt entered in the fifth and closed out the contest with five strikeouts and one walk.

Covington recorded 12 hits on the afternoon and committed just one error, while Lehman racked up 10 hits and was tagged with four fielding errors.

The victory improves Covington's record to 8-0 on the season.

Scoring by innings:
Covington ..........3....0....1....2....0....4....2 - 12
Lehman ..............0....0....4....0....1....0....1 - 6