Ethan Taylor isn’t used to hitting in the two-spot for Covenant, but with Sean Rutherford away on Spring break, that’s where he was. Carl Crutchfield isn’t used to being a prime time base runner, but like with Taylor, that was the situation. Offensively, the two, along with Jesse Getchel, had a great afternoon of offense, and with Lee Coppock hammering the strike zone, Covenant was able to win comfortably over Blue Ridge on Saturday, 11-2.
“I was very pleased with what we did at the plate,” said Covenant coach Doug Smethurst. “With spring break, we were a little nervous to see how it would go but we were real sharp and came up with some real key hits with two outs.”
It was a tight contest for the first two and a half innings as the Barons were able to draw first blood when Zack Roberts hit a solo shot in the first and Covenant answered back in the bottom half when Crutchfield took home on a wild pitch and Taylor drove in a run on a double with two outs.
Coppock settled in the next three innings on the mound, striking out batters and watching his defense make plays behind him when Blue Ridge managed to put the ball in play. Over the five five innings the junior pitcher struck out five batters while issuing no walks. He also only found himself in one jam throughout the game.
In the top of the sixth inning Blue Ridge was able to put draw a walk and a hit to start, but could only squeeze in one run on a fielders choice.
Offensively, Covenant had little trouble reaching base, and when it did, Getchel and Taylor, who had been struggling, made sure to bring the runners home as the two accounted for 3 RBIs a piece.
“I was just seeing the ball really well today,” Taylor said. “I was in a bit of a slump coming in, but in an optional batting practice on Wednesday I was seeing it then and we changed my stance a little bit.”
In the bottom of the third Getchel came up with the bases loaded and two outs, but cleared the base paths with a huge 3-run double to give the Eagles a 5-1 lead. Two innings later, it was a near repeat performance with Crutchfield taking home on another wild pitch and Taylor coming up with an RBI double to extend the lead to six runs.
“We kind of started out a little slow,” Crutchfield said. “But we just started to have a lot of fun out there. We starting hitting the ball and it all come together after that.”
After Blue Ridge put their second run up in the sixth, Covenant came back with four runs of their own and in the top of seventh, Coppock continued to work through the Blue Ridge lineup to pick up the complete game win.
For the Barons, while they couldn’t match the Eagles offense, it wasn’t because they couldn’t put the ball in play. Blue Ridge made plenty of contact, but no matter where the ball was hit, the Covenant defense just happened to be there.
“I thought we hit the ball pretty well,” said Barons coach Chris Cunningham. “It was just one of those games where nothing fell for us.”
Roberts and James Weddington accounted for the two RBIs for Blue Ridge. Roberts went 1 for 2 while Andy Hughes and Sota Fukura each were 1 for 3.
Taylor finished the game 3 for 4 for Covenant. Crutchfield was 2 for 2 with four runs scored. Getchel went 1 for 5 and scored two runs.
Blue Ridge, (2-3, 2-3) hosts Liberty Christian on Monday at 4:30 p.m.
Covenant (5-1, 2-0) travels to VES on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
