April 18, 2008 – ARCANUM
The Covington Buccaneers continued their success of hitting the long ball as they cranked two more home runs against Arcanum to run the season total to 11.

Both home runs came back-to-back as Kyle Kanet drilled a two-run shot in the sixth and David Moss followed with a solo home run.

"In the sixth years I've been here I've never had a team hit the ball like this group has," said a pleased Covington coach Mitch Hirsch. "The kids aren't looking for home runs either. They are stepping to the plate and looking to drive the ball. We have a lot of extra base hits too. Hopefully this continues."

The first five innings wasn't pretty for Covington as it could only manage two runs, one in the first and one in the fourth.

But the lack of runs didn't have anything to do with Covington not making contact on the baseball.

"A really strong wind was blowing directly out of right field," Hircsh explained. "We had three or four hits that would have probably went out of the ball park, but the wind held it up."

Meanwhile, Andy Sparks and the Covington defense held Arcanum in check until the offense could break through.

Sparks went the distance on the mound and struck out five batters while allowing just three hits.

"Andy pitched pretty well," Hirsch said. "He let a few batters get away early on, but settled down and threw a nice ball game."

The defense backed him up on a tough field to play on.

"This is an all-dirt infield and that's something we're not use to," Hirsch described. "The ball was taking some funky hops, but the kids did a good job of keeping it in front of them and making the plays."

The big sixth inning by the Buccs began with a lead-off single by freshman Jake Bitner.

After a Covington out, Kanet drilled his first home run of the season over the left field fence.

Moss followed with with his home run in almost the same spot to get Covington rolling.

"David had one in the first inning that should have been gone, but the wind kept it in," Hirsch said. "But we really started hitting the ball hard in the fourth inning. I could tell then that it was a matter of time before we started seeing some of those balls drop."

Covington had several players contribute at the plate, but it was Kanet and Moss that had the big sticks. Kanet went 2-for-3 with 3 RBI to go along with his homer, while Moss was 2-for-4.

"The hitting was pretty spread out, which I like to see," said Hirsch. "We had a lot of guys with hits and had nine as a team."

In what was a complete baseball game by his team, Hirsch credits his kids for doing the little things to improve.

"The reason we are doing the things we are doing is because the kids are coachable," he stated. "They listen to what we tell them and execute it. If we tell them to make an adjustment at the plate, they do it. It's paying off too."

Which is why Covington stands at 7-3 overall and 4-1 in the CCC.

The Buccs have three days of rest before hosting rival Bradford on Tuesday.

Scoring by Innings:
Covington .......1...0...0...1...0...6...1 - 9 .. 9 .. 0
Arcanum .........0...0...0...0...0...0...0 - 0 .. 3 .. 4