MAY 1, 2011 - DAYTON
It's always a special night for the kids and the communities when they get to enjoy a night of baseball at Fifth Third Field, the home of the Dayton Dragons.

For the Covington Buccaneers, Sunday night was their turn to enjoy the bright lights of Fifth Third as the Buccs took on St. Henry in non-conference action.

"We like playing St. Henry down there (at Fifth Third)," said Covington coach Mitch Hirsch. "They are a quality program with classy people and we always seem to play pretty well down there. Too bad we can't play all of our game there."

Unfortunately, with the game knotted at 3-3, the game was called as the dark clouds opened up with heavy rain.

"We've been fighting the weather all year, so it was nice to get the six innings we were able to get tonight," Hirsch stated. "Playing them is such a good experience for our kids, we may try to finish this game on Saturday. Hopefully we can get it done."

St. Henry put pressure on Covington from the outset, scoring two runs in the first and another in the third to take a 3-0 lead.

And it was timely hitting by the Redskins as they were able to take advantage of untimely walks by Covington starting pitcher Jake Stewart.

"Jake's curveball wasn't working early and he had four of his five walks in the first three innings," Hirsch explained. "After the third inning he got it working pretty good and they only had two base runners after that."

Which gave Covington time to get the bats working as it was held without a hit over the first three innings, despite hitting the ball hard several times.

"Their pitcher did a nice job of keeping the ball down in the strike zone," Hirsch said. "But the kids stuck with it and we were finally able to take advantage when he did get the ball up."

Andrew DeHart got the Buccs on the board with an RBI single in the fourth, driving in Kellen Woloch, who had been hit by a pitch and then moved to second on a passed ball.

DeHart then cut the margin to 3-2 in the top of the sixth with a triple that scored Kyler Deeter, who had been inserted as a pinch runner after Woloch reached on a two-out single.

Brandon Flora then connected on a single to score DeHart and tie the game at 3-3.

"We scored both of those runs with two outs and no runners on," said Hirsch. "That shows the fight in our kids."

Meanwhile, Jake Stewart put together a gutsy effort on the mound, fighting out of a couple of jams to keep St. Henry off the board.

"They had bases loaded in the second and then runners on second and third in the sixth," Hirsch said. "But he was able to get the strikeout each time to get himslef out of it."

Stewart threw all six innings for the Buccs, striking out 13 and surrendering the five walks. He also only gave up three hits.

"When he threw strikes they had a hard time hitting him," Hirsch continued. "He got himself into some jams, but was able to work his way out of them."

Covington hit the ball hard all night, but managed just four hits - all coming in the final three at bats.

Andrew DeHart lead the way with a 2-for-2 night, including a triple and two RBI.

Brandon Flora singled in a run and Kellen Woloch reached on a single.

"We played pretty well against a solid baseball team," Hirsch said. "They (St. Henry) put us down early, but the kids did a good job of hanging in there and battling."

Covington, 6-9 on the season, hosts Twin Valley South tomorrow in a makeup game.

SCORING BY INNINGS:
Covington ......0..0..0..1..0..2 - 3 - 4 - 1
St. Henry ........2..0..1..0..0..0 - 3 - 3 - 0