BASEBALL
Pulaski Co. @ Cave Spring – PPD.
Grayson Co. @ Fort Chiswell – PPD. ( 5 pm Wed.)
Chilhowie 12 Northwood 1 – Hogoheegee Dist. – Semifinal
PH-Glade Spring 2 Holston 1- Hogoheegee Dist. – Semifinal
Carroll Co. 6 Radford 2
Alleghany 7 Giles 2
Hidden Valley @ Christiansburg – PPD.
Covington @ Eastern Montgomery – PPD.
Geo. Wythe 3 Rural Retreat 2
Galax @ Auburn – PPD.( 5pm Wed.)
Blacksburg @ Patrick Henry – PPD.
Salem…Playing on a warm and sunny afternoon at Kiwanis Field in Salem, the Cougars made too many errors as the Salem Spartans defeated them 6-1.
Spartan ace pitcher Zian Honaker pitched a complete game three hitter. He struck out six and helped himself at the plate. He had two singles, a walk and scored two runs. Parker Stallard knocked in one run and scored one.
The Cougars committed a season high seven errors, with four of those in the second inning allowing two Spartan runs. In fact, of the six runs for Salem, only two of those were earned. Brandon Neel started on the mound, but he lasted only one full inning. He battered hits and gave up three runs with only one of those earned. He struck out one and walked three. The three Cougar hits were by Chris Remington in the first, Hunter Shrewsbury in the second and Bailey Ayers in the fourth.
Pulaski Co. (9-9,4-7) scored their only run in the top of the fourth as Remington drew a base on balls and Ayers singled. Remington would score on a sacrifice fly from Jonathan Minnick. That cut the deficit to two, 3-1.
Salem scored one run in the first on three walks, four stolen bases and an error as they left the bases loaded. They would then score two more in the second on four errors, a hit batter and a stolen base. They would make it 4-1 in the fifth as Joe Quinn singled, stole second and third then scored on an error.
The Spartans (13-3) put two more on the scoreboard in the sixth. Honaker scored on a sac fly from Stallard, and Jadon Fetrow walked, singled and Stallard scored on an error.
“We didn’t handle the ball and we just didn’t make plays,” said Cougar head coach Jared King. “They (Salem) were very aggressive on the bases and we didn’t handle it. Our pitchers got behind in the count too many times and we got down early.”
Cougars will play Radford Wednesday at home at 5: 00 pm and then the River Ridge District Tournament starts Thursday. Opponent and time for that game is to be determined.
R H E LOB
Salem 6 4 1 7
Pul. Co. 1 3 7 4
Salem – WP – Honaker
Pul. Co. – LP- Neel (2-4)
BASEBALL
Salem 6 Pulaski Co. 1
Giles 6 Radford 4
Auburn 13 Grayson Co. 8
Covington 9 Craig Co. 3- 1st game
Covington 4 Craig Co. -2 – 2nd game
Christiansburg 13 Blacksburg 1
Cave Spring 8 Hidden Valley 1
Chilhowie 6 PH-Glade Spring 3 – Hogoheegee Reg. Season Championship-Playoff
Alleghany 10 Floyd Co. 0
Lebanon 2 Va. High 0
Dublin…Recently the Pulaski Co. Cougar Basketball team held their banquet. Head Coach Andrew Hart awarded his varsity players with their certificates and awards. The junior varsity were also recognized.
The Cougars finished the season with a 12-13 mark. They were a five seed in the Class 4A Region D play. They unfortunately lost to Jefferson Forest at Forest in a hard fought, down-to-the-wire game. It was the Cougars first trip to Regional Tournament play in 10 years. They also were a four seed in the River Ridge District Tournament and made it to the district semifinals. Four seniors helped lead them to those accomplishments: CC Grubb, Logan Robertson, Braeden Blevins and Trent Blankenship.
Grubb lead the squad with an 18.6 points per game average. Robertson was second in scoring, averaging 12.3 per game. Rebounding was also led buy Grubb as he had 5.8 per game. Blevins came in with 5.0 rebounds a game. Logan Robertson and Grubb were first and second in assists per contest, with Robertson getting 3.1 a game and Grubb 2.0 per game. The same two players came in first and second in steals, with Grubb averaging over two an half a game and Robertson over one a game. Seniors also lead with blocks per game, with Blevins with 21 and Grubb with 19.
Some other highlights from this past season saw Grubb scoring 36 points versus Blacksburg. Blevins and Kade Akers both had 10 rebounds in a game. Blevins against Hidden Valley and Akers was against Radford. Robertson recorded seven assists in three different games. The most made three’s in game came from Grubb as he hit six in that Blacksburg contest.
The Cougar varsity will lose those four seniors but hopefully will return seven players for next year. The Cougar junior varsity had a very good 13-7 record on the season. Brandon Smith, in his fourth year with Cougars, was the head coach. This was his first year as the headman for the junior varsity. Jonathan Penn a former player for the Cougars, as well as Andrew Hart and Brandon Smith, came back to be the varsity assistant. Coach Smith would take over the junior varsity and did a very fine job with them. The junior varsity had five sophomores and eight freshmen on their roster and hopefully some will step-up to the varsity. Coach Smith said, ”We played unselfish and the team was first. I’d also like to say Thank You to all the parents. It was a very enjoyable season. We had big wins over Patrick Henry, Christiansburg, William Bryd and Radford. “
Cougar varsity head coach Andrew Hart remarked, “ We competed all season. We had a very difficult schedule. We lost to Gate City, whom won a state title. Radford’s only loss for the season was to Gate City. Hidden Valley won our district championship and went deep into the state playoffs. Patrick Henry also went deep in the state playoffs and Jefferson Forest made it to Regional finals. We didn’t back down from any one and of the 25 games we played we had a shot at the win in 23 of those, starting the fourth quarter. We had eight different players to score in double figures at different times. We had five different players that led us in scoring in different games.” Coach Hart continued by saying,” We beat Salem twice and we also knocked off Cave Spring and that was big for us and me ! “
Coach then talked about the four seniors saying,” CC (Grubb) was voted First team all River Ridge District, First team All Region D, Second team All State 4A and scored over 1,000 points in his career. He was also voted The Southwest Times Player of the Year.”
Logan Robertson Coach Hart said, ”He was voted Second team All River Ridge District and made honorable mention All-Region D. Braden (Blevins) made Honorable Mention All River Ridge District.” Coach Hart then said, “This senior may not have led the team in scoring, assists or rebounds but he came to work everyday and helped push the other players. He was always a team-first guy and Trent Blankenship is awarded the Fourth Annual Coaches Award. I also would like to say Thank You to the parents and the Booster Club.”
Coach Hart remarked,” CC Grubb. Logan Robertson, Braeden Blevins and Trent Blankenship are great kids besides being good basketball players. They listened, worked hard and I hope this basketball program will be part of them in the future.”
Next Year the Cougars will have some game changes. They will be participating in the Fort Chiswell Christmas Tournament. That tournament is held just after Christmas and before New Years Day at Fort Chiswell High School. It will be three games in three days. Teams, dates and times will be forth coming. With those three games, the Cougars will not be playing Gate City or Roanoke Catholic. They will more than likely only have Radford scheduled one time. Radford will more than likely be in the Fort Chiswell Tournament as they are the defending champions.
Blacksburg…Good things happen to those who wait. The Cougar baseball team waited until the last inning against the Blacksburg Bruins when they scored eight runs in the top of the seventh inning for a dramatic come-from-behind 9-4 victory.
The game was scheduled for 5:00 pm, but rain started falling around 4:50 and at 5:10 there was lightning that delayed the game until 5:40. Then at 5:30 there was a huge clap of thunder and more lightning that further delayed the game. The umpires sent the teams to their buses and the public to their vehicles. Finally, around 6:05 the two teams and those in attendance came back to the field and the ballgame got started at 6:20 pm.
Down 4-1, going into the top of the seventh, the Cougars would send 12 batters to the dish, as they would get seven hits and cross home plate eight times. Up until that inning, the Cougars had only six hits. Four of those came in the first and second innings.
Hunter Shrewsbury would start the eventful inning as a pitch hit him. Jon Howlett would pinch hit and hit a single to left. Logan Burchett would pinch hit and his single scored Shrewsbury and an error by the Bruins left fielder allowed Howlett to score to cut the Cougar margin to one, 4-3. After an out, Trent Blankenship walked to put runners on first and second. Chris Remington would then hit a hard single into left center scoring one, and the Cougars found themselves tying the game at four. Bailey Ayers would then hit a shot over the left fielder’s head that knocked in two more and all of a sudden it was 6-4. The Cougars weren’t finished as Jonathan Minnnick drove in a run on a single. Braeden Blevins drew a base on balls, Shrewsbury would single in a run and Howlett batting for the second time would single in another run, and it was 9-4 before they hit into a inning ending double play as it was getting dark. All of this big time rally would be for nothing if the game was called due to darkness. The Cougars would then rush out onto the field, and Chris Remington would take the mound in relief of Kellen Dalton. Remington gave up a lead-off single, but then he would strike out the next two batters. He then walked a batter and after a double steal the Bruins had runners on second and third. Remington would then get the Bruins batter, Luke Goforth, to fly out to left to end the game as it was getting extremely dark. The Cougars had put the Bruins in the dark with their huge comeback win.
The Cougars (9-8, 4-6) got two hits apiece from Ayers, Howlett and Minnick. Ayers and Shrewsbury both had two RBIs each. Punky Foster had started the game on the mound for the Cougars and pitched very well going three and one-third innings, scattered four hits, giving up two runs and only one of those was earned. Dalton would then come in and pitch out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam allowing just one run. Dalton was the benefactor of the seventh inning uprising. The Bruins scored twice off Dalton but both of those were unearned. He gave up two hits, and struck out two.
“I’m very proud of the guys and how they battled and never gave up,” said a pleased Cougar head coach Jared King. “Hitting is contagious, and we showed that in the seventh inning. I thought Punky (Foster) pitched well for his first varsity start. Then Kellen (Dalton) came in and pitched out of a jam and that was a big fourth inning escape for us.” Coach then added, “Howlett (Jon) and Logan (Burchett) came through for us pinch hitting and were big sparks. Great team effort! We scrapped, battled and I’m just happy and proud of the kids.”
The Bruins had seven different players with one hit. Devon Stosser had a two run scoring double in the bottom of the sixth. Luke Goforth had an RBI and Jared Madigan got the loss as the Bruin starting pitcher went six and one-third innings.
Pulaski Co. plays at Salem, Monday at 5:00, at Cave Spring Tuesday 5: 00, and then they have scheduled a game with Radford on Wednesday at 5:00 pm to be held at Cougar Field.
R H E LOB
Pulaski Co. 9 13 3 6
Blacksburg 4 7 2 12
Pulaski Co. – WP- Dalton – (5-1)
Blacksburg – LP – Madigan
BASEBALL
Pulaski Co. 9 Blacksburg 4
James River 12 Radford 10
Fort Chiswell 10 Geo. Wythe 6
Galax 23 Rural Retreat 5
Glenvar 5 Giles 0
Christiansburg 3 Patrick Henry 2
Tazewell 9 Marion 1
Parry McCluer 6 Craig Co. 5
BASEBALL
Radford 9 Glenvar 4
Alleghany 5 Carroll Co. 0
Blacksburg 10 Galax 0
Auburn 15 Grayson Co. 5
Cave Spring 16 Salem 11
Christiansburg 3 Hidden Valley 1
Va. High 16 Richlands 0
Abingdon 13 Holston 2
Chilhowie 14 Northwood 4
Narrows 5 Bath Co. 2
Dublin…The Cougar baseball team held their Senior Day for the 10 seniors, and then they led the Cougar baseball team to an impressive 4-1 win over Hidden Valley.
Senior southpaw starting pitcher Brandon Neel threw a gem of a game as he tossed 6.1 innings, allowing only five hits. He surrendered just one run, which was unearned. He walked three and struck out three. Fellow seniors Bailey Ayers, Jon Osteen and Drew Mabry all scored a run apiece. Ayers was two for three and knocked in a run, and Osteen also knocked in one. Another senior, Trent Blankenship, was one for three with an RBI. Junior Jon Howlett was one for two and scored a run.
Hidden Valley scored their only run in the top of third, as Austin Kirkbride singled and then moved to second on a single by Matt Bolinger. Ryan Kirkbride then laid down a sacrifice bunt that was fielded by Neel who tossed it to first but the ball was misplayed, with Kirkbride scoring on the play.
The Cougars (8-8, 3-6) answered with a run in the bottom of the fourth as Ayers singled with one out. After a walk, he moved to second and then reached third on a fielder’s choice. He then scored on a Hidden Valley wild pitch. They would then score three runs in the their half of the fifth with a Howlett single, an Hidden Valley error and then Osteen’s single drove in Howlett. Blankenship’s ground out scored Mabry and, with two outs, Ayers’ single would drive in Osteen.
Neel, who started and got the first out in the top of the seventh, would give up a walk and a single. Chris Remington replaced him. Remington would come in and shut the door striking the next two batters out to get a save and the Cougars had their Senior Day victory.
“I’m so proud of how the seniors played today. It was a great way for them to go out at home,” said Cougar head coach Jared King. “Brandon (Neel) pitched his tail off today. He needed that today and so did we. It was a great team win and just so proud of all of them.”
The Cougars will now hit the road as they play at Blacksburg Friday, at Salem Monday and then at Cave spring Tuesday.
R H E LOB
Pulaski Co. 4 7 1 7
Hidden Valley 1 5 2 8
Pulaski Co. – WP – Neel (2-3)
Hidden Valley- LP – Gibbons
