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Dixon's K's, Hayes' homer lead Raiders |
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Written by Greg Bird
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Friday, 09 April 2010 |
David Hayes’ 2-run homer in the bottom of the fifth provided the offensive spark and Jacob Dixon did the rest, leading the Raiders to a 3-1 win over Clay County Tuesday night.
David Hayes’ 2-run homer in the bottom of the fifth provided the offensive spark and Jacob Dixon did the rest, leading the Raiders to a 3-1 win over Clay County Tuesday night.
Dixon, who entered the game with a state-leading 0.37 ERA, limited the Tigers to just one hit and one unearned run over 7 innings as McCreary improved their record to 6-4.
The win marked the Raiders fifth where they limited their opponents to one run or less, including four shutouts. The only win where McCreary gave up more than 1 run came over the weekend when the Raiders defeated Daniel Boone High School, 17-14 in Oak Ridge.
Tuesday night the Raiders threatened in every inning, but failed to push runs across the plate as Clay County’s Todd McDaniel threw a strong game as well, striking out 10 Raider batters in 5.3 innings.
But McCreary broke the game open in the fifth. Aaron Watts reached on a one-out single up the middle. Hayes followed with his second homer in two days, launching a blast that cleared the fence in left-center field for a 2-0 lead. The homer rallied the Raiders as Willie Wilson followed with a single to left and scored from first on Jeremy Strunk’s base-hit down the right-field line for a 3-0 advantage.
Clay County tried to come back in the next inning when Brandon Griffin reached on a 1-out walk. He took second on a balk and advanced to third on a ground-out. Corey Nicholson hit a grounder to short that should have ended the inning, but a Raider error kept the inning alive and allowed the run to score.
Dixon got out of the frame without any further damage and retired the side in the top of the seventh to record his second win of the season. He also lowered his ERA to 0.27 with the performance.
Every Raider starter collected a hit in the game, with Wilson leading the way with a 2-3 performance. Aaron Watts, whose .600 batting average entering the game was second in the state, finished 1-3 with a run scored.
The Raiders’ next three games will be on the road, tonight at Adair County, Next Monday at North Laurel and Tuesday at Monticello. They return home a week from today when they host Southwestern in a District match-up.
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