MAY 9, 2011 - COVINGTON
The Covington Buccaneers used a six-run second inning and a seven-run fifth inning to record a 13-3 rune-rule victory over Fairlawn in five innings in tournament action Monday.

"We hit the ball hard all night," said Covington coach Mitch Hirsch. "Of course we had the two big innings in the second and fifth, but we hit the ball well in the innings we didn't score. Unfortunately we hit it right at people."

Fairlawn took advantage of a slow start by Covington starting pitcher, Austin Angle, to score a run in the top of the first inning.

Angle walked the first batter - his only walk of the night - and then an error in left field resulted in the run.

"Austin struggled a little in the first inning, but he settled down and threw pretty well after that," Hirsch said.

Covington followed with its first at bat and left bases loaded without scoring a run.

But it was a matter of time before the Buccs would break through because of how well they were hitting the ball.

The breakthrough inning came in the bottom of the second as Covington put six runs on the board. The big hit was a bases loaded double by senior Kellen Woloch.

"The kids seemed to relax and play ball when we got the big inning," Hirsch explained. "Austin settled down and threw really well after that."

Still, Fairlawn was able to respond in the top of the third by scoring two more runs to cut the Buccaneer lead to 6-3 and then got itself out of a jam in the bottom half of the fourth inning.

"They switched pitchers after we scored the six runs in the second and we started timing him up in the fourth inning," described Hirsch. "We really got after him in the fifth."

Which is an understatement as the Buccs connected on seven of their 13 hits in the bottom of the fifth. It resulted in the seven runs Covington needed to end the contest.

"Hopefully this is a sign that we're coming around," said Hirsch of his team's hot hitting. "Other than the first inning, we played pretty well."

Especially at the defensive end. After the lone error in the first inning, the Buccs were flawless in the field.

"I keep telling the kids to make the routine plays and everything else will fall into place," Hirsch explained. "We helped out our pitcher tonight. We didn't make the silly mistakes that get you beat."

And Angle found his groove on the mound, going the distance and striking out four batters along the way.

"This was a nice performance by him in his first tournament start," said Hirsch of his sophomore hurler. "I'm sure there were some nerves for him to deal with, but he stayed within himself and threw as well as you could expect."

Several Buccaneers had big days at the plate as Bryton Lear, Kellen Woloch, Ben Wilson, Jake Stewart and Ryan Craft all went 2-for-3. Wilson had two doubles with two RBI, while Stewart and Woloch also doubled in the contest.

Covington hosts Twin Valley South tomorrow and Newton on Thursday in makeup games before traveling to Riverside next Wednesday for its next tournament game.

SCORING BY INNINGS:
Fairlawn .................1..0..2..0..0 - 3 - 5 - 1
Covington ..............0..6..0..0..7 - 13 - 13 - 1