Covington baseball closed the regular season on Friday night splitting a double header across the river against the Marion (Ark.) Patriots posting a final 15-11 record before the second season begins at at 0-0 in the postseason.
In the opener, Chargers took an early 2-0 lead in the 2nd when Benjamin Smith homered following a Brennen Forbess single. The advantage grew to 3-0 in the 3rd on a Christopher Smith double, a walk to Lane Butler, a wild pitch and a Holden Warmath sac fly.
The Patriots struck back in the bottom of the 2nd with 2 runs of their own with a lone single complimented by 2 walks and 2 batters hit by a pitch.
The final runs scored were all Marion’s. Butler gave up a solo homer to lead off the Patriot 5th that tied the score at 3. After a walk, Aaron Anglin came on in relief. A single and another walk loaded the bases. Anglin got the next 2 outs with a strikeout and an infield fly, but a single plated a pair of runs for a 5-3 lead that was not headed.
Butler took the loss allowing 7 hits and 4 runs with 4 strikeouts in 4.0 innings. Anglin went 3.0 innings giving up 1 run on 3 hits with 2 strikeouts.
CHS bounced back in the nightcap to have a 9-1 win to enjoy on the ride home.
Parker Davis was all over the scorebook in this one. At the plate he was 4 for 4 with 3 singles and a double, 2 runs scored and 3 RBI. On the mound, he limited the Patriots to 4 hits and 1 run in 6.0 innings of work during which he struck out 11. Jacob Walls tossed a clean 7th with a strikeout.
Covington got all the runs needed in a 6-run 4th inning. Singles by Warmath, Braden Gover and Davis added to a walk and a hit by pitch, a 2-run error and a pair of RBI producing ground outs did the damage.
Davis doubled and Gover singled him home for a 7-0 5th inning lead. Ben Smith tripled in the 7th. Davis singled him home and after advancing on a walk and a wild pitch, scored the final run of the game.
Due to tournament seeding concerns, a May 1 game with Arlington was canceled last week. When determined that the date would be available, CHS invited the Golden Tide from Trenton Peabody to have a last game before tournament play begins on Wednesday.
Peabody showed why it is the #1 ranked 1A team in Tennessee and how they deserve their record of 24-3. The Tide dropped the Chargers 16-6 in a 6 inning run rule affair. Peabody pounded out 16 hits in the win. Six CHS pitchers added in 11 walks and the defense made 6 errors to compound the carnage.
Covington jumped on top in the 1st on a single by Chris Smith and a Lane Butler double. Peabody was scoreless through 2 innings before they scored 4 in the 3rd to take the lead for good. The Chargers added single runs in the 3rd and 4th before a 3 run 5th closed the gap to 9-6 on consecutive singles by Braden Gover, Brennen Forbess, Ben Smith and Parker Davis plus a run on a passed ball.
Three Chargers had multiple hits in the game with Warmath, Ben Smith and Davis all collecting 2 hits apiece in 3 plate appearances. Jacob Walls took the loss going 2.2 innings allowing 4 runs on 5 hits with a strikeout.
The Chargers being play in the district tournament this week.
In track action:
The Lady Charger/Charger teams had a solid performance in the meet at Jackson University School on April 25. From among 25 teams participating, the Lady Chargers placed 4th and the Chargers 6th overall. Alexis Winfrey took fifth in the discus and six in the shot put. Her shot put was a personal record.
