APRIL 10, 2010 - RUSSIA
The Covington Buccaneers may have lost both games in a double-header at Russia, but Mitch Hirsch felt his team showed signs of becoming a solid baseball team.

"We're getting close," Hirsch said. "The kids are capable of playing good baseball, which we played at times. Now we have to learn to put all three phases together."

Last night against Miami East the Buccs hit the ball well, but didn't play very well defensively. Today, the Buccs played very well defensively and had solid pitching from Brandon Powell, but didn't hit the ball very well.

Powell went the distance in the second game of the double-header, allowing six hits and striking out three, while not giving up a single walk.

"Brandon threw very well in the second game," said Hirsch. "He only threw 63 pitches, which is really good. Plus, we only had the one error in the second game after having three errors in the first game."

The first game was all Russia as the Raiders jumped on Covington for a 9-1 lead after three innings.

But the Buccs settled in and played inspired baseball, outscoring Russia 3-2 over the remaining four innings despite missing four kids who were taking their ACT tests.

"It gave us an opportunity to get a look at some other kids and I liked what I saw," Hirsch said. "Unfortunately we gave them four or five unearned runs there in the first couple of innings and that hurt."

Russia jumped on the Buccs in the first inning of the second game, scoring three runs.

But the remainder of the contest was a pitching dual as neither team could get much going until Russia scored another run in the bottom of the fifth for the 4-0 victory.

It all drops Covington's record to 2-8 with a CCC contest on Tuesday against National Trail on the horizon.

"I know our record don't show it, but we are improving a great deal," Hirsch said. "Sometimes we hit the ball well, but don't play good defense. Other times we play good defense and have solid pitching, but don't hit the ball. We just have to find a way to put it together and I believe that day is coming."

GAME ONE SCORING BY INNINGS:
Covington ..........1...0...0...0...3...0...0 - 4 .. 3 .. 3
Russia ................3...3...3...0...0...2...x - 11 .. 11 .. 2

GAME TWO SCORING BY INNINGS:
Covington ..........0...0...0...0...0...0...0 - 0 .. 3 .. 1
Russia ................3...0...0...0...1...0...x - 4 .. 6 .. 0