TROJANS|Becoming giant killers,

Cougars beat Barren 9-3

With its 9-3 pounding of Barren County on Friday, the Cougar baseball team has proven to be something of a giant killer in recent games against highly-ranked teams.

In the past couple of weeks, the Cougars have beaten 18th-ranked Elizabethtown 5-1, and 25th-ranked Bowling Green 11-4. Barren County entered Friday’s contest tied for 13th in the state.

With a 9-7 win over Glasgow on Saturday, and a 17-0 whitewash of McLean County on Monday, the Cougars are now riding a seven-game win streak during which they have put the bat on the ball with alarming frequency.

Against the Trojans on Friday, the Cougars had eight hits in the first four innings, during which they scored all nine of their runs.

Senior Jordan White received the benefit of all that offensive production as he went seven innings to pick up the win. White allowed three runs on eight hits, struck out three and walked no one, though he did hit one batter.

White also helped himself at the plate, coming up with a single and a double in four trips to the plate and driving in a run. He was one of three Cougar hitters with two hits in the game. Alphonso Soto had a double, a single and a sacrifice fly good for four runs driven in. Mike Scott had a double and single in four trips and drove in one.

The Cougars jumped all over Trojan starting pitcher Tyler Richardson, who could have sued for lack of support as his defense committed three errors behind him in the first inning.

Sean Embry’s leadoff ground ball to third was booted by Mason Myatt for an error. White followed with a single to right, and when right-fielder Michael Fields let the ball get past him, Embry scored all the way from first and White reached second base.

Myatt then committed his second error and the third Trojan error of the inning when he threw high at first base on a ground ball by Tyler Saltsman. White scored on the play to make it 2-0.

Soto followed by driving a ball into the gap in left-center for a double which plated Saltsman all the way from first to make it 3-0.

One out later, Scott doubled into right-center to drive in Soto with the fourth run of the inning.

The Cougars drove Richardson from the mound in the second with three more runs. Michael McCubbin led off and was plunked in the back with a Richardson delivery. Embry followed by singling into right and advancing McCubbin to second.

White then ripped a double to the fence in left center to drive in McCubbin and send Embry to third. That brought the hook to Richardson who was replaced by left-hander Tyler Edmunds.

Edmonds gave up a one-out sacrifice fly by Soto and a two-out single by Greg Rainey that drove in the final two runs of the inning.

The Cougars added a pair of runs off Edmonds in the fourth inning that made it 9-0. Embry reached on another Myatt error and with one out, Saltsman was hit by a pitch. A double steal put both runners in scoring position before Soto singled to right to drive them both home.

The Trojans finally broke through on White with a pair of runs in the fifth. Myatt singled leading off before Edmunds doubled into right-center. Myatt scored and Edmunds went to third when Embry allowed the ball to get past him for an error. Edmunds later scored on a wild pitch to make it 9-2.

Barren added one more run in the sixth. White hit Blake Crabtree with a pitch leading off the inning, then Crabtree stole second. Two outs later, Crabtree scored on a single to right by Tyler Miller.

That was it for the Trojans. They put a runner at third with one out in the seventh, but White got pinch-hitter Seth Phelps to ground out, then got leadoff hitter Matt Riley to line out to McCubbin in left to end the game.

The Cougars will travel to Meade County on Thursday for a rematch with the Green Wave. The Cougars beat the Waves 11-0 in five innings in the season opener. They will then have a rematch with Barren County on Saturday as they host a three-way round robin at Don Lee Field along with St. Mary, from Paducah. Play begins at noon.