The Shadow
By MARK PIFER
Staff Writer
SPRINGWOOD – James River’s baseball team wore their hitting shoes Friday.
In just four at-bats, the hosts stroked 15 hits and scored 15 runs.
It was more than enough.
Jaret White and Kyle Failla both hit home runs and eight different Knights had hits in a 15-5 run-rule win over Covington.
The victory lifted James River to 6-1 in the Pioneer District and 9-8 overall, while the Cougars fell to 3-3, 9-7.
“They (James River) hit the ball really well today – we couldn’t stop their offense,” said CHS coach Mick Strand.
Covington fought back twice.
Trailing 3-0 after two, Steven Blevins and Zach Humphries put together back-to-back RBI hits in the top of the third to tie the game.
And again after River had put up five in the home half of the third, the Cougars cut their deficit to 8-5 on a two-run double from Chad Lipes.
But the Knights erased any hopes in the last of the fourth, sending 11 hitters to the plate and scoring seven more times.
Failla had the big blow, a grand-slam over the left field fence.
For the day the senior second baseman drove in six.
White added a two-run homer in the third, while designated hitter Keith Yancey had three knocks.
Lipes, the Cougar starter, suffered just his second loss of the year in nine decisions, giving up six earned runs in three innings.
Luke Crawford and Colton Howard both pitched in relief.
Humphries was the only multi-hit performer for the Cougars with two.
Brandon Welch pitched the victory for James River, while Kaleb Gunter worked two innings of one-hit relief.
“We had much better approaches at the plate,” said Strand.
“We battled back a couple of times, but we just couldn’t get them out.”
Covington finishes their regular season with a home game against Craig County on Monday and a trip to Bath County on Wednesday.
“We don’t have time to think about this one too much,” Strand finished. “We have two big games in three days next week.”
James River will look to lock up the Pioneer District regular season crown at Parry McCluer (4-2) on Tuesday.
COVINGTON (5)ABRHBI
Steven Blevins, cf3111
Zach Humphries, 1b3121
Matthew Myers, c2000
Colten Harris, dh3000
Jordan Miller, lf0000
Luke Crawford, 2b-p2000
Ethan Hinton, 2b1000
Derek Dressler, 3b2010
Tom Straube, ph1000
Daniel Blevins, rf1100
Colton Howard, ss-p1100
Chad Lipes, p-2b-ss1112
TOTALS20554
JAMES RIVER (15)ABRHBI
Justin Stevers, c2321
Kyle Failla, 2b3226
Jaret White, 1b4112
Keith Yancey, dh4331
Bayard Stevers, lf0000
Kaleb Gunter, rf-p2122
Brandon Welch, p-cf3010
Mitchell Lanning, 3b2222
Andrew Chilcott, cf-f2100
Hunter Thompson, ss3220
TOTALS25151514
BOX SCORE
Cougars003 20 – 5 5 2
Knights2157x – 15 15 1
HR – Jaret White (3rd inning, 1 on); Kyle Failla (4th inning, 3 on)
PITCHING
CovingtonIPHRERKBB
Lipes (L)3.0108644
Crawford0.157711
Howard0.200000
James RiverIPHRERKBB
Welch (W)3.045414
Gunter (Save)2.010010
