COVINGTON – Buccaneer senior Jensen Wagoner held Lehman Catholic scoreless through six innings, while the offense put up seven runs.
Which was just enough of a cushion for the Buccaneers to hold off a late Cavalier rally in a 7-5 win for Covington.
Wagoner was magnificent as he struck out 13 batters, allowed just one walk and two hits in his six innings of work. He also helped out his cause at the plate with two hits and driving in a run – a run that came in the opening inning on a base hit to score fellow senior Kody Nelson.
Tyler Owens drove in Tanner Palsgrove and then Tyler Jay singled to score Trey Schmelzer to give Covington a 3-0 lead after one inning of play.
Neither team could score again until Covingon plated a run in the bottom of the fourth and three more in the bottom of the fifth.
The run in the fourth came on a bases loaded walk by Schmelzer to score Jacob Tipps, but the Buccaneers couldn’t get the big hit to do more damage.
That changed in the bottom of the fifth as Tipps reached on a bunt to score Tyler Jay and then Connor Humphrey scored on a wild pitch. Palsgrove singled to score Tipps to push Covington’s advantage to 7-0.
After a scoreless sixth inning, Wagoner was pulled off the hill due to the pitch count and Lehman was able to take advantage with five runs on two hits and three walks in the inning. Only two of the runs were earned.
Fortunately for Covington, freshman Tanner Palsgrove came in and recorded the final out to preserve the win for the Buccaneers.
In all, Covington racked up 11 hits in the contest with Tyler Jay leading the way with 3 hits on 4 at bats. Palsgrove, Wagoner and Humphrey had 2 hits each, while Schmelzer and Tipps had one hit a piece.