April 17, 2008 – WEST ALEXANDRIA
The Covington Buccaneers rebounded from a 4-3 loss to Tri-County North on Tuesday with a dominating 16-4 victory over Twin Valley South.

"It was good to see the kids come out and play well," said Covington coach Mitch Hirsch. "We were ready to play."

Covington pounded out 15 hits on the afternoon and scored runs in every inning but the fourth.

"We've been swinging the bats very well," Hirsch said. "We had a lot of line drives tonight and did a great job of going with the pitch and driving it to the opposite field."

Nobody went to the opposite field better than sophomore Adam Craft, who belted two home runs in the contest. Craft connected for a solo home run in the third and a three-run shot in the seventh to give him a team-high four dingers for the year.

Craft finished the contest batting 3-for-4 with the two home runs and five RBI.

"He's hitting the snot out of the ball right now," said Hirsch. "He nearly had one the other night against North too."

Covington started things off in the top of the first with three runs, all coming with two outs.

Kyle Kanet reached second on a throwing error to first and Craft singled to bring Kanet around for the first run of the game.

Nate Lavey followed with a single to put runners on first and second, which set up a double by Brent Shively to score the remaining two runs of the inning.

Shively went 2-for-3 on the day with two doubles and four RBI.

"We took advantage of a mistake by them and got something going," Hirsch said. "Those three runs were a good start."

Covington then followed with a run in the second and another in the third with Craft's solo home run to right field.

After a scoreless fourth inning, Covington put three more runs on the board in the fifth and followed with a three-run sixth inning to take a 11-1 lead.

But Twin Valley South responded with three runs in the bottom of the sixth thanks to some untimely errors by the Buccs.

"That infield was pretty rough," explained Hirsch in regards to the four miscues made by the Buccs. "We did have a ball that we should have fielded and a throwing error, but there was nothing the kids could have done on the other two."

Still, Covington held a comfortable 11-4 lead into the top of the seventh and put the game away with a five-run inning thanks to a three-run homer by Craft.

"I'm happy that we continued to swing the bats when we got the big lead," said Hirsch. "That's a sign of a good team."

Also a sign of a good team is solid pitching, which the Buccs received once again from Darrell Thobe and Kyle Kanet.

Thobe started the game and pitched five and two-thirds innings. He struck of nine and walked just one.

"Darrell was on again tonight," praised Hirsch. "He's thrown pretty well all season for us."

Kanet picked up the save by pitching and inning and a third. He struck out one and walked just one batter.

Thobe helped himself out at the plate with two doubles and a pair of RBI, while Nate Lavey had a 3-for-4 day with an RBI.

Ben Christian and Andy Sparks each double and combined for three RBI as well.

Covington improves to 6-3 on the season and 3-1 in the CCC. The Buccs travel to Arcanum tomorrow for another conference contest.

Scoring by Innings:
Covington .........3....1....1....0....3....3....5 - 16 .. 15 .. 4
TV South ...........1....0....0....0....0....3....0 - 4 ...... 8 .. 3