Boyd pounds Devils, 17-5

By ROCKY STANLEY — The Independent

FLATWOODS Fri, May 16 2008

— Injury-plagued Boyd County is still plenty dangerous at the plate.
The Lions pounded out 17 hits in five innings Monday night for a 17-5 romp over Russell.
“Our key tonight was to make sure we had quality at bats,’’ said Boyd County coach Ben Maynard. “Our guys stayed short and had a lot of base hits in 1-0, 2-0 and 2-1 counts.’’
Logan Helms highlighted the offensive fireworks with a triple and home run.
Helms, a 6-foot senior, has been hampered by tendinitis in his pitching arm this season but continues to swing a hot bat. He went 3-for-3 with four runs and four RBI just two days after hitting a grand slam and driving in six runs against Clark County in the Derby Classic.
“Waiting back is the main key,’’ Helms said. “I was in a slump for a while until I started driving the ball the other way.’’
Helms’ combination of power and speed produced another triple in the fourth inning.
“That’s eight or nine triples for him this season,’’ Maynard said. “Logan has been finding that gap in right-center and he’s running better this year than ever.’’
Chase Wiler also collected three hits and scored four times against Russell. He hit a two-run double in the fifth prior to Helms’ second homer of the season.
Five of the Lions’ first seven batters singled. Boyd County took control with a 10-run second inning, aided by three Russell errors and a couple of misjudged fly balls. A botched rundown on the third-base line resulted in the final two runs of the inning.
“You’ve got to make plays,’’ said Russell coach Mike Martino. “You can’t give anybody five or six outs in an innings, and you better not do that against a team like Boyd County.’’
The Lions improved to 13-15 but suffered another injury in the process. Senior outfielder Jacob Plummer, scheduled to sign today with Centre College, tumbled past first base and landed on his shoulder after putting down a sacrifice bunt in the third inning.
“Our luck this year has not been good,’’ Maynard said.
Plummer singled in the first inning and hit a two-run double in the second to chase Russell sophomore pitcher Drake DeHoff. Freshmen Jordan Roark and Brandon Boyd finished out on the mound for the Red Devils (8-12).
After Boyd County put 10 runs on the board in the second, Russell answered with five in the bottom of the inning. Joe Roark drilled a two-run double, while Drew Braden and B.J. Hamilton added RBI singles.
“It was good to see the way our guys bounced back,’’ Martino said. “If you look at the 16th Region scoreboard, we have the third-highest run total. Unfortunately, we are fourth from the bottom in runs given up. Our pitching staff is pretty young. We have to keep putting them out there and hope they learn along the way.’’
Boyd County’s Derek Tengowski pitched all five innings and got nice defensive plays from Plummer and third baseman Jason Rosen.

BOYD CO. 0(10)1 24 — 17 17 0
RUSSELL 050 00 — 5 9 5
Tengowski and Cornwell; D. DeHoff, Jor. Roark (2), Boyd (2) and Hamilton. W—Tengowski. L—D. DeHoff. 2B—Plummer (BC), Pauley (BC), Wiler (BC), Joe Roark (R), Feltrop (R). 3B—Helms (BC). HR—Helms (BC).