Baseball: Hawks on a roll with wins over North Hardin, North Bullitt

The LaRue County Baseball Team improved their record to 10-4 with an 8-4 victory over the North Hardin Trojans Monday, April 18. The Trojans record fell to 7-7 with the loss. Ace Adcock, the brother of Kansas City Royals Nathan Adcock, is the Trojans’ Head Coach.
Sophomore Cole Hughes got off to an extremely shaky start, giving up three runs on four hits sandwiched around an error in the first inning. After the first inning though, Hughes settled down, giving up only one run and three hits through six innings.
Trevor Skaggs came in and closed out the game in the seventh inning, walking one.  
Junior Wes Kessinger continued his torrid hitting streak, going three for three with a double and a walk. Junior Kyle Meredith had two singles and a stolen base, while Steven Carpenter continued his excellent play in the number two batting slot with two bunt singles.  
The Hawks scored one run in the second inning, four in the third, two in the fifth and one in the sixth to complete the scoring, with Kessinger, Slade Owens and Meredith all collecting RBIs in the Hawks’ big third inning.  
The Hawks also had a 5-3 victory over the North Bullitt Eagles on Wednesday and 11-0 shellacking of the Nelson County Cardinals in five innings on Thursday. Friday’s game against Hart County was canceled due to rain.  
North Bullitt nipped
Hughes scattered nine hits in seven innings leading the Hawks to a 5-3 victory over the North Bullitt Eagles. Owens doubled and scored twice, Kyle Sheeran was two for three with two singles and Kyle Meredith doubled and singled.  
North Bullitt scored one run in the fourth and two in the fifth as Hughes was able to hold on for the victory.   
“Cole did a nice job of keeping them off balance, said Head Coach Chris Price. “North Bullitt is one of the better teams we’ve faced this year. We had some timely hitting by several guys to score our five runs. Our defense was pretty solid other than a couple of mental lapses.”
Nelson knocked, 4-14
Revenge was sweet as the Hawks avenged a defeat to the Nelson County Cardinals in the first game of the season. Behind the pitching of Kessinger and the slugging of Owens, the Hawks took an 11-0 five inning victory over the Cardinals.
Kessinger went five innings, giving up only two hits in securing the shutout.  Kessinger struck out two and walked none, allowing only three Cardinal batters to reach base.  
“Wes had his best performance of the year to date,” said Price. “He threw with a lot of confidence and mixed his pitches up well.”
Owens homered in the first inning, giving the Hawks a quick 1-0 lead. Owens finished the game two for two, scoring three times, Sheeran went one for three with a triple, Hughes was two for three with a double and Meredith extended his hitting streak going three for three with a double and two singles.
Carpenter was two for three with two singles, scoring twice. The Hawks sent 14 players to the plate in the third inning, scoring 10 runs.  
“The third inning was a big inning for us,” said Price. “We hit the ball with confidence and hit the ball to the opposite field. Our defense again was solid and that’s what we’ve tried to focus on.”
The Hawks play at Hart County April 21 and Marion County on April 22 at home.  
 

Terry Sandidge

Cole Hughes was credited with the Hawks’ win over North Bullitt.

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