MAY 3, 2010 - WEST ALEXANDER
Covington was one hit away from erasing a three-run deficit in the seventh inning against a solid baseball team with a good pitcher.

"The kids did a good job of hanging in there and coming back in the seventh inning," said Covington coach Mitch Hirsch. "We were one hit away tonight."

But that hit never came as the Buccs fell short 6-5 to Twin Valley South.

"What hurt us was we left five runners stranded in the first two innings," Hirsch said. "We could have used those runs later on."

Andrew DeHart led the game off with a solo home run and then Covington scored another run in the top of the second inning for a 2-0.

But the five runners left stranded would begin to prove fatal in the bottom of the third as the Panthers took the lead with a three-run inning.

"We had a couple of plays we should have made in the field," Hirsch said.

Covington tied the game in the top of the fourth, but South came right back in the bottom of the fifth to reclaim the lead with a two-run home run.

Another Panther home run in the bottom of the sixth pushed the lead to 6-3 in favor of the home team as Covington couldn't find the key to hitting Twin Valley South pitcher Roy Wysong with consistency.

"Wysong is a nice player for them," praised Hirsch. "We couldn't get a bead on him tonight. He's beaten some pretty good teams this year."

Covington started finding its groove at the plate in the seventh inning as it scored two runs and had two runners on base with one out.

But a grounder to short and a pop up to third ended the contest with the Buccs on the short end of a 6-5 score.

"We played pretty well against a pretty good baseball team," Hirsch said. "Jake (Bitner) threw well and we only had the one error."

Bitner went the distance for Covington, striking out five and allowing just one walk.

The big hitters for Covington were Andrew DeHart and Brandon Flora. DeHart hit a double to go along with his first inning home run, while Flora recorded a double.

The Buccs drop to 7-16 overall and 5-5 in the CCC with one conference game left - at Ansonia tomorrow.

SCORING BY INNINGS:
Covington ...........1...1...0...1...0...0...2 - 5 - 6 - 1
TV South .............0...0...3...0...2...1...x - 6 - 11 - 2