By John Lachmann
Kypostsports@yahoo.com
Beechwood battled back from a seven-run deficit by scoring six times in the top of the sixth, but Covington Catholic held on for a 9-8 win in Wednesday’s District 35 final at CovCath.
Junior right fielder Grant Schreiver ignited the Colonels’ offense with a two-run homer in the bottom of the first, tying the score.
Junior third baseman Ben Heppler plated three runs for CovCath, singling in two in the second and grounding out for another RBI in the fourth.
Senior designated hitter Nate Kunkel and junior catcher Nick Pope added two RBI each for the Colonels.
Kunkel belted a run-scoring base hit in the second inning and grounded out for an RBI in the fourth, and Pope laid down two suicide squeezes – one in the third and the other in the fifth.
The Tigers scored six runs in the top of the sixth to cut the lead to one, and they stranded the tying run at third in that frame.
Heppler came in to record the save, pitching out of the sixth and allowing just a single in the seventh before picking the runner off.
BEECHWOOD 200-006-0—8 5 1
at COVCATH 231-120-x—9 7 0
WP: Ward (5-1, 7 K’s). LP: Schumann. SV: B. Heppler (1). HITTING LEADERS: CC—Zalla 2-2; Schreiver HR, 2 RBI; B. Heppler 3 RBI; Kunkel 3-4, 2 RBI; Pope 2 RBI. B—Stringer 2 RBI; Combs 2 RBI; Slusher HR, 2 RBI; Schmidt 2-4. RECORDS: CovCath 23-13, Beechwood 27-8.