Published: April 15, 2008 11:56 pm            

Rigsby, Adkins do the damage

ASHLAND — Caleb Rigsby and Chase Adkins combined for a three-hit pitching performance to lead Ashland to a 7-1 win over Russell Tuesday evening at Alumni Field.

“Those two are our top pitchers,” Ashland coach Jeff Wilcox said. “We work them as much as we can and Caleb was up there with 80 pitches or so, so we brought Chase in and he shut the door on them.

Rigsby started the game for the Tomcats and threw five innings, giving up one unearned run off three hits while striking out nine batters to notch the win. Adkins threw two shutout innings in relief to earn the save. He fanned five of eight batters faced.

“They kept us off balance and that’s just the difference in the game,” Russell coach Mike Martino said. “We had 14 strikeouts so they didn’t have to play much defense.”

The Tomcat bats were alive, knocking out 10 hits, led by Trey Keaton’s 3-for-3 with three RBI performance.

Rigsby and Nick Jackson led off with back-to-back singles and Alex Bonette walked to load the bases for Keaton in the fourth. Keaton doubled deep to right, driving in Rigsby and Jackson. Bonette scored on a Russell balk and Keaton came in on a wild pitch. Cris Duvall put the fifth run of the inning on the board when he came home on a fielding error and the Tomcats led 6-1 after four complete.

Jackson was 2-for-3 and Rigsby was 2-for-4 for Ashland.

Ashland tacked on a run in the fifth. Jackson doubled and scored on Keaton’s RBI single.

“I think our pitchers made some big pitches when they had to, but actually I thought our defense in that one inning was kind of a turning point,” Martino said.

Drake DeHoff took the loss for the Red Devils, throwing three-plus innings to give up four earned runs off eight hits. Eric Conley pitched three innings in relief, giving up an earned run off two hits. The pair combined to face 30 batters but recorded only one strikeout.

Ashland (8-2) hosts Greenup County today at 6. Russell (4-5) hosts Rose Hill Thursday at 5:30.



RUSSELL 001 000 0 — 1 3 1

ASHLAND 010 510 x — 7 10 2

D. DeHoff, Conley (4) and Rice; Rigsby, Adkins (6) and Duvall. WP — Rigsby, LP — D. DeHoff. 2B — Rice (R), Jackson (A), Keaton 2 (A). 3B — Rigsby (A).

        

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