LOCUST GROVE – Taking advantage of six Locust Grove errors, the Grove Ridgerunners won their fifth game in a row on Tuesday, downing the Pirates 6-1.
The Ridgerunners (16-8) took advantage of four Pirate errors to put up three runs in the third inning. An errant throw on Ty Phillips’ grounder to short with the bases loaded scored two runs, while an RBI single by Kaden Livermore accounted for the other tally as Grove took a 4-1 lead they would never relinquish.
“They gave us some chances,” Grove head coach Bret Bouher said. “We had some chances to blow the game open but never could get the big hit. It was a tough day to hit with the wind blowing in a ton and their guy was throwing strikes just enough that it was hard to get into a good offensive rhythm.”
But the runs the Ridgerunners did score were more than enough for starting pitcher Cordale Barton. Barton surrendered a single run in the second inning, but kept the Pirates (6-14) off the board the rest of the way, getting out of a bases-loaded jam to end the game and pick up his fourth win of the season.
“Cordale’s had a good year for us,” Bouher said. “He kind of moved into the rotation for us out of nowhere. When he got his chance he did his job and now he’s got five, six starts under his belt and we’re looking for him to be the guy that’s second, third or fourth in our rotation.”
Barton struck out five in limiting the Pirates to four hits and a pair of walks, at one point retiring 10 batters in a row from the fourth to the seventh inning.
Justin Tesreau got the Ridgerunners on the board in the top of the first, driving a one-out double to right field to score Gibson Russ, who reached on an error.
Locust Grove got their only run in the bottom of the second. Trevor Taylor led off the inning with a double and advanced on consecutive groundouts to tie the score at 1-1.
Kody Stephenson later doubled and scored on an error in the fourth inning for Grove, which also got an unearned run in the seventh for the final margin.
With the win the Ridgerunners will move into the home stretch of the season, with nine consecutive district games over 14 days beginning Thursday at Collinsville. The Ridgerunners, 5-0 in district play, are one of two teams in 5A-3 undefeated in district play. The top two finishers in the district will host regional playoff tournaments.
“It was a tough game to play [today],” Bouher said. “We’re really looking forward to district play and hopefully we didn’t overlook this one. We got the win we came here for and we’re feeling good.”
Grove and Collinsville will play at 4:30 Thursday in Collinsville. The two teams will meet in Grove at the same time Friday.
