Ironton, Sutton knock off Pointers

SOUTH POINT — When Ethan Sutton goes to the plate, his Ironton Fighting Tigers teammates can relax.

Why not? Sutton is relaxed.

The relaxed Ironton catcher went 3-for-5 with a double, a home run and four runs batted in as the Fighting Tigers beat the South Point Pointers 13-2 in an Ohio Valley Conference game on Friday.

“Sutton has learned to relax and let his hands work and not try to muscle his swing,” said Ironton coach John Hunt. “He has been hitting two or three balls a game really hard.”

South Point (1-8, 1-4) took a 2-0 lead in the first inning.

With one out, Caesyn Pope singled and went to second on an overthrow. Owen Tabor singled home Pope, moved up on a wild pitch and scored on a hit by Kevin Murphy.

Ironton (6-2, 5-1) answered with two runs of its own in the top of the second inning.

Jacob Hughes singled, stole second, took third on a passed ball and came home on a hit by Carter Bridges.

Dawson Philyaw and Carson Freeman followed with hits to score Bridges.

The Fighting Tigers took the lead in the third with three runs and it was 5-2.

Bryson Kerns singled, stole second and scored on a hit by Sutton. After a fielder’s choice, Tanner Kleinman was safe and stole second, and both runners scored on a hit by Bridges.

The lead went to 7-2 in the fifth inning.

Sutton doubled, Hughes singled and a passed ball scored Sutton. Bridges singled home Hughes to cap the rally.

The Fighting Tigers put the game away with six runs in the seventh inning.

Kleinman and Bridges walked and Philyaw singled for a run and an error scored a run. Freeman walked and Kerns had an RBI ground out.

Braydon Baker reached on an error and Sutton slammed a three-run home run.

Besides Sutton, Bridges was 3-3 with four RBI, Hughes was 3-5, Philyaw 2-4 with an RBI, Kerns 1-5 with an RBI and Freeman 1-3 with an RBI.

Freeman went the distance to get the win. He gave up five hits, two earned runs with nine strikeouts and three walks.

Tabor was 1-2 with an RBI, Patterson 1-3 with an RBI, Pope and Murphy 1-3, and Laslo 1-4 to account for the Pointers five hits.

Ironton 023 020 6 = 13 13 1

South Point 200 000 0 = 2 5 2

Carson Freeman and Ethan Sutton. Ethan Laslo, Caesyn Pope (6), Ryder Pratt (7) and Elye Patterson. W-Freeman (IP-7.0, H-5, R-2, ER-2, K-9, BB-3). L-Laslo (IP-5.0, H-10, R-7, ER-5, K-5, BB-0). Pope (IP-1.2, H-2, R-6, ER-2, K-3, BB-5). Pratt (IP-0.1, H-1, R-0, K-1, BB-0). Hitting–Ironton: Bryson Kerns 1-5 RBI, Ethan Sutton 3-5 2B HR 4-RBI, Jacob Hughes 3-5, Carter Bridges 3-3 4-RBI, Dawson Philyaw 2-4 RBI, Carson Freeman 1-3 RBI; South Point: Ethan Laslo 1-4, Caesyn Pope 1-3, Owen Tabor 1-2 RBI, Kevin Murphy 1-3, Elye Patterson 1-3 RBI.