By AARON SNYDER -- The Independent
RUSSELL
Sat, May 17 2008
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East Carter continued to stay red hot as the Raiders churned out their eighth straight victory Thursday night at Russell. East Carter (16-5) held off the Red Devils, 7-3.
The Raiders led by that score heading into the seventh inning, but reliever Kyle Burchett ran into some control issues.
Raiders pitcher Eddie Seagraves stepped in from second base to close the door and earn the save.
With the bases chock full of Red Devils and no one out, the tying run came up to the plate three separate times just to go down on strikes each time.
This was a recurring theme for the Red Devils all night. They left the bases loaded three times and stranded 15 total baserunners.
“We had a lot of opportunities, but just did not get the big hit,” said Russell coach Mike Martino. “That’s the bottom line. We have been scoring a lot of runs, but tonight we just couldn’t do it.”
East Carter ran into an issue of its own. The Raiders used four different pitchers, and the first three walked a combined 12 batters.
“When you walk 12 guys, you don’t even expect to be in the ball game,” said East Carter coach Jeremiah Shearer. “I think we walked more guys tonight than we’ve walked in the past week combined. We were lucky to get out with a win.”
A five-run fourth inning lifted East Carter from a 2-2 tie. Four Raiders crossed the plate before an out was made.
Craig Brammer, Nate Carroll, Tommy Carper and Crestin Salyers each ripped a base hit in the inning. Carper and Salyers both drove in a run.
The fourth inning was the only time the Raiders really got to Russell starting pitcher Drake DeHoff. He pitched all seven innings, only allowing one hit in the last three innings.
“Drake was outstanding,” Martino said of the sophomore. “He’s been our most consistent pitcher so far this year. He’s learning as he goes out there.”
However, the Raiders’ fourth inning was enough and the bottom half of the lineup was a big reason for it. The No. 6 through No. 9 hitters went 5-for-12 with three RBIs and scored six runs.
“The bottom of our lineup is hitting just as well as the top of our lineup,” Shearer said. “We’ve really been putting a lot of runs on the board lately.”
East Carter has put up 96 runs over the last eight games, which have all been wins. And the defense, which committed only one error against Russell, has improved as well.
“We’ve come leaps and bounds since the first week of the season,” Shearer said. “I think we’re starting to heat up at the right time. We have the postseason on our minds.”
Russell (7-8) had also been scoring runs. As a team, they had put up at least nine runs in four of the last five games.
After leaving the bases loaded in the second inning, Russell plated two runs in the third. Drake DeHoff walked with the bases loaded and Joe Roark hit a sacrifice fly to right field.
The Red Devils scored again in the fourth on a bases-loaded walk, but wound up leaving the bases full.
According to Martino, this game was not an indication of where Russell is when it is in full health.
“We’ve got a couple injuries right now,” Martino said. “That kind of shuffles the lineup around a little bit. So we just have to work through that.”
The Red Devils will face Mason County, whom they beat 13-10 earlier this season, tonight at home.
East Carter will travel to play in a tournament in Harrison County this weekend.
EAST CARTER 020 500 0 — 7 9 1
RUSSELL 002 010 0 — 3 4 2
Bair, Stapleton (3), Burchett (6), Seagraves (7) and Back; D. DeHoff and Rice, Hamilton. W—Stapleton. L—D. DeHoff. Sv—Seagraves. 2B—East Carter, Salyers 2, Carroll.
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