Tigers take down Pointers ahead of must-win game

IRONTON — The offense was getting hits while the pitcher wasn’t giving up hits. It was the perfect combination.

The Ironton Fighting Tigers banged out 11 hits while pitcher Carson Freeman hurled a one-hitter in a 10-0 Ohio Valley Conference run rule win on Monday.

“Carson pitched a very good game and the kids hit well,” said Ironton coach John Hunt. “The key for us is to keep getting good pitching and keeping our bats going.”

Freeman picked up his second win of the season — both against the Pointers — as he allowed just one hit with 8 strikeouts and only one walk.

Ironton (11-4, 9-2) kept pace in the OVC race and will play a must-win game at Gallipolis against the Galia Academy Blue Devils on Tuesday.

Ironton and Gallia trail Portsmouth by one-half game for first place in the OVC.

The Fighting Tigers had 11 hits with Jacob Hughes going 2-3 with a double and 2 RBI, Bryson Kerns 2-3 with a double and an RBI, Braydon Baker 2-3 with an RBI, Carter Bridges 1-2 with an RBI, Tanner Kleinman 1-3 with a double and an RBI, Dawson Dawson 1-3 with 2 RBI, Ethan Sutton 1-3 with an RBI, and Owen Gallion 1-3.

Kevin Murphy had the only hit as he led off the 5th inning for South Point (2-15, 2-9).

Ironton jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

Baker led off with a singled, stole second, went to third on a hit by Kerns and scored on a sacrifice fly by Sutton.

Hughes doubled for the second run and he came on to score on a hit by Kleinman and Philyaw’s ground out.

Ironton got a run in the third inning when Sutton singled, Hughes walked, a double steal and a throwing error on the play.

The Fighting Tigers put the game away with 6 runs in the fourth inning.

With one out, Gallion singled and went to second on an error. Baker had an RBI single and Kerns had an RBI double.

Hughes singled home Kerns, stole second and scored on a double by Kleinman. Philyaw reached on an error to put runners on the corner. Philyaw stole second, Carter Bridges singled for a run and a throwing error scored Philyaw with the final run.

South Point 000 00 = 0 1 3

Ironton 301 6x = 10 11 0

Ryder Pratt, Kaden Gillum (4) and Elye Patterson. Carson Freeman and Ethan Sutton. W-Freeman (IP-5.0, H-1, R-0, ER-0, K-8, BB-1). L-Pratt (IP-3.2, H-10, R-10, ER-8, K-0, BB-2). Gillum (IP-0.1, H-1, R-0, ER-0, K-0, BB-0). Hitting–South Point: Kevin Murphy 1-2; Ironton: Braydon Baker 2-3 RBI, Bryson Kerns 2-3 2B RBI, Ethan Sutton 1-3 RBI, Jacob Hughes 2-3 2B 2-RBI, Dawson Philyaw 1-3 2-RBI, Tanner Kleinman 1-3 2B RBI, Owen Gallion 1-3, Carter Bridges 1-2 RBI.