Published: March 25, 2009 01:31 am      

Tomcats at home in park

ASHLAND — Central Park’s renewed and improved Ernie Chattin Field played host to Ashland and Fairview in both teams’ opening game Tuesday night.

The Tomcats took home a 7-0 victory as pitchers Dylan Delaney and Chase Adkins combined to throw a three-hitter.

Delaney worked three innings to get the win, while Adkins came in and struck out eight batters in four innings to negate any chance for an Eagles’ comeback.



“(Ashland) had two outstanding pitchers out there throwing gas,” said Fairview coach Rick Lambert.

The Eagles did not help themselves when they squandered a scoring opportunity in the first inning with two runners on base due to a baserunning mistake.

Fairview had only five more batters reach base.

“We’re somewhat young,” Lambert said. “For a lot of these kids, it was their first time batting in a varsity game.”

That was the case for Ashland second baseman Corey Salow. Salow laid down a sacrifice bunt in his first varsity at-bat, then flied out in the second.

In the fourth, though, the right-handed hitter ripped a line-drive single off Zach Adkins into right field to drive in two runs in the fourth inning, giving the Tomcats a 4-0 lead.

Kyle Bias, a junior, placed a two-run single into right field in the seventh inning to give Ashland extra insurance.

“We wanted our kids to be aggressive at the plate,” said Ashland coach Jeff Wilcox. “I think they did it all the way through, and came up with some big hits the opposite way too.”

Tyler Brown tossed three innings and gave up just one run for Fairview, while Zach Adkins and Jeff Evans surrendered six runs in four innings, four of them unearned.

New-look brick dugouts, a revamped press box and a wind screen along the outfield fence highlight the amendments to the refurbished field, where Wilcox has fond memories.

“I played here a long time ago,” Wilcox said. “I love the improvements. It’s a great field, great atmosphere. I’ve seen a lot of great players on this field.”

ASHLAND 010 300 3 — 7 6 0

FAIRVIEW 000 000 0 — 0 3 3

Delaney, Adkins (4) and Duvall; Brown, Adkins (4), Evans (7) and Bailey. W—Delaney. L—Brown.