April 27, 2008 – DAYTON
There wasn't a dry eye in the house as 2007 Covington Graduate Corey Patty walked out to the mound Sunday night to throw out the first pitch prior to Covington's baseball game against St. Henry at Fifth-Third Field in Dayton.

The familiar bright smile was on display as he took the mound in a No. 4 Buccaneer baseball jersey given to him by the Covington baseball team. He delivered the pitch to sophomore catcher Adam Craft, who then gave Corey the ball as he walked back to the dugout with both Covington and St. Henry fans standing in unison with applause.

"It was great to see Corey walk out there and throw out the first pitch," said Covington coach Mitch Hirsch. "We had a nice turnout of Covington people who came out to support him and the team. This community supports the kids."

Corey has been battling cancer since he was diagnosed last summer and only has two more treatments left, which he will complete in early June.

"The kids look up to Corey a lot," Hirsch continued. "They went out today and bought yellow tape for the wrists where they wrote #45 (Corey's football number at Covington). They respected Corey in high school and they respect him even more now."

The emotion of the evening and the wear and tear of playing a fourth game in three days took its toll on Covington from the outset.

Andy Sparks started on the mound and never could find a groove as he walked seven batters in the first three innings.

"Andy was a little nervous before the game," Hirsch said. "He never could get comfortable."

Still, Covington only trailed 2-0 thanks to some solid defensive plays by the outfield.

Ben Christian and Kyle Kanet pitched the next three and two-third innings, but St. Henry pounded the ball for 10 more runs to blow the game open. The Covington pitchers walked nine batters and hit three more in the contest.

"We're just tired," explained Hirsch. "We've had a long week. That's not an excuse at all. It's just a fact."

The highlight for Covington was a fourth inning solo home run by David Moss. The senior drilled a towering shot over the 381-foot marker in left-center.

Moss went two-for-three on the evening with two RBI.

He also recorded the final out on the mound for the Buccs.

In spite of the 12-4 loss, Hirsch wasn't disappointed in his team. Instead, he was thrilled the kids got to experience playing at Fifth-Third once again.

"Anytime you get to play here, it's a lot of fun," said Hirsch. "I wish we could have played better, but we still had fun."

The Buccs, who have played a lot of baseball in the past week, won't get much rest as they host New Knoxville tomorrow before back-to-back conference games on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"We knew this stretch of games was coming," Hirsch said. "I know we're tired, but we'll just have to be ready to play."

Covington drops to 12-5 on the season.

Scoring by Innings:
St. Henry ............2...0...0...4...1...2...3 - 12 .. 11 .. 1
Covington ..........0...0...0...1...0...2...1 - 4 ...... 6 .. 1