Cougars end baseball season at Salem

Salem…It just wasn’t meant to be. The Cougars didn’t execute and Salem did. The Cougars baseball season came to an end as they lost to the Spartans of Salem 6-1. Salem (14-6) got a complete game from pitcher Trevor Austin, Vincent Piniello knocked in three runs and Riley Fox went 3 for 3, walked and scored twice. Austin scattered seven Cougar hits in his complete game performance, striking out six and walking two. The only run he gave up was by the Cougars shortstop Jon Osteen. He hit a solo home run in the top of the fourth.

The fourth inning was a very telling inning for the game as Osteen hit a 2 ball 2 strike pitch over the left center field wall that landed approximately 360 feet away. Andrew Lowe walked and Kam Hall singled to right center and took second on the throw to third with no one out. The next two Cougar hitters would strike out and hit a line shot that was caught by the pitcher for the third out.

Salem, in the bottom of their fourth, got a single, a walk and then back to back bunts that together would not have gotten to the pitchers mound, loaded the bases after an out. Then Piniello and Austin both were hit by a pitch scoring two runs. Salem gets one hit, two fielders choices and two hit batters to score twice, while the Cougars didn’t advance runners at second and third and no outs.

The Spartans and Cougars were scoreless going into the bottom of third, but Fox, Jacob Dodd and Noah Beckley all singled to load the bases against Cougar starting pitcher Hunter Shrewsbury. John Stover hit a fielders choice for a run, Piniello hit a double to score two and Matthew Wright’s triple scored PIniello for a four run uprising. Salem stole three more bases and in their three games against Pulaski Co. this season finishing with 15 steals.

Pulaski Co. (12-9-1) got two hits apiece from Osteen and Hall. Andrew Lowe, Trent Blankenship and Jordan Lytton all had a hit each. A disappointed Cougar head coach Jared King remarked, ”I’m so proud of this team and these seniors. We’re losing 11 seniors and they’ve been with us for years in the baseball program. They have helped this baseball program to set some standards for us. They are going to be missed. Tonight’s game was a lack of execution on our part and Salem executed. We hit a couple liners that were caught and they got a couple bunts and reached base, That’s the game of baseball. Fundamentally we didn’t get it done tonight.”

This Cougar baseball team has no reason to hang their heads. They had a winning season. They won 12 games. They made it to the Conference 24 semifinals. The winning season and 12 wins are the first in at least six years if not more for the baseball program. It was Coach King’s first winning season and there were more ups than downs. This team battled and battled. They had comeback after comeback. These seniors went out as winners.

 

R H E LOB

Salem 6 10 0 9

Pul. Co. 1 7 0 5

 

 

Salem – WP- Austin

 

Pulaski Co. – LP- Shrewsbury – (5-2)

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