Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)
April 30, 2003
Section: Sports
Edition: Final
Page: D6
Memo:HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL
WARD COMES THROUGH IN A PINCH FOR PAUL DUNBAR
TWO-OUT DOUBLE BEATS HENRY CLAY 3-2
TATES CREEK HOLDS OFF LAFAYETTE 10-5
Mike Fields, Herald-Leader Staff Writer
Robby Ward’s two-out, pinch-hit, run-scoring double in the seventh inning lifted Paul Laurence Dunbar to a 3-2 victory over host Henry Clay in a terrific high school baseball game last night.
Dunbar’s win — No. 15 in a row — pushed its record to 18-1 and, according to Ward, certified the Bulldogs’ No. 3 state ranking.
“This was huge,” Ward said. “To beat Henry Clay proves we deserve to be No. 3.”
Henry Clay is rated 12th in Kentucky after knocking off top-ranked Pleasure Ridge Park over the weekend.
In last night’s opener, 10th-ranked Tates Creek banged out 15 hits and beat Lafayette 10-5.
While Ward provided the big hit for Dunbar last night, Josh Ellis supplied plenty of pitching.
Last week Ellis went six innings and had seven strikeouts in beating Lafayette. Last night the senior right-hander went the distance, giving up only one hit — a homer by Alden Crissey. He had nine strikeouts, hit four batters and gave up an intentional walk.
“I didn’t know if Josh had it at first tonight, but he got looser and looser, and better and better,” Dunbar Coach Mickey Marshall said. “He’s looking good. He’s working out the kinks.”
Henry Clay edged ahead 2-0, thanks to an unearned run in the second and Crissey’s opposite-field home run in the third.
Dunbar rallied to tie it in the fifth. Mark Wethington was hit by a pitch and, one batter later, Davis Stanley belted a line-drive homer to right-center.
The Bulldogs then got the game-winner in the seventh. An error allowed Kevin Paddock to reach first. Stanley sacrificed him to second, and Paddock moved to third on a groundout.
Marshall didn’t hesitate to bring in Ward as a pinch hitter.
“It was a no-brainer,” he said. “Our No. 9 batter was up, so I was going to the big stick sitting on the bench.”
Henry Clay got a solid effort from Johnson Whitehouse on the mound. The senior righty also went seven innings and gave up just four hits.
“I was encouraged by what I saw from Johnson and some of our other guys,” Henry Clay Coach Herb Hammond said.
In last night’s first game. Tates Creek went on the offensive early.
“We had our hitting sticks out tonight,” Commodores Coach Dom Fucci said.
Mark Rawlings led the way with four hits, including a pair of doubles. and he drove in two runs.
Tates Creek, which has had to manufacture runs most of this spring, piled up seven runs on eight hits in the second inning, with Jamie Black, Scott Napier, John Shelby and Rawlings getting consecutive run-scoring hits to fuel the attack.
After pushing their lead to 9-0 in the fifth and threatening to make it a mercy-rule game, the Commodores may have thought they had victory assured.
Lafayette had other ideas.
After being blanked by Tates Creek starter Bryan Marr for four innings, the Generals started pecking away. They got two runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth, even bringing the tying run to the plate at one point.
“We relaxed instead of keeping on swinging the bats; that’s been our problem all year,” Rawlings said. “We’ve got to learn to stay strong, stay in the game.”
Tates Creek reliever Trent Fucci finally put out the fire.
“We showed a little heart coming back,” Lafayette Coach Chris Langston said. “But we let (Coach) Fucci have his way. When he’s got players with speed and they get on base, that’s his game.”
Tates Creek 070 020 1–10 15 2
Lafayette 000 023 0– 5 6 2
Bryan Marr, Jason Land (6), Trent Fucci (6) and Ross Taylor, Drew Rushing (6); Czack Roe, Jon Hollingsworth (5), Russ Bruins (6) and Scott Churchill. WP–Marr. LP–Roe. 2B–Mark Rawlings 2 (TC); John Shelby (TC).
Records–Tates Creek 13-6; Lafayette 13-5
Paul Dunbar 000 020 1–3 4 1
Henry Clay 011 000 0–2 1 2
Josh Ellis and Davis Stanley; Johnson Whitehead and Terry Mullinix. WP–Ellis. LP–Whitehead. HR–Alden Crissey (HC), Davis Stanley (HC). 2B–Robby Ward (PD).
Records–Paul Dunbar 18-1; Henry Clay 8-2
PHOTOS BY CHARLES BERTRAM, STAFF – Tates Creek’s Bryan Marr followed through on a pitch in the first inning. Marr did not allow a Lafayette run until the fifth.
Jamie Black’s double off Lafayette’s Czack Roe drove in two Tates Creek runs in the second inning yesterday. The Commodores scored seven runs on eight hits in the inning. “We had our hitting sticks out tonight,” Coach Dom Fucci said.