HARLAN — An older and much more experienced South Laurel Cardinals baseball team hit the road and traveled to Harlan on Tuesday to open their season, coming away with an impressive 10-2 win.
South Laurel (1-0) did a little bit of everything in eight-run victory, collecting nine hits, and nine stolen bases while Will Alsip and Jacob Culler combined to pitch a two-hitter while surrendering no earned runs.
“I was happy with the win,” South Laurel coach Trey Smith said. “Anytime you can come out and do a little bit of everything and get the win, that’s pretty good for us. I thought we pitched well and just need to clean some things up defensively.
“I like our group because we are older. We do a lot of things,” he added. “We can run the bases, we can hit one through nine, and we can pitch. I believe that’s makes us very dangerous.”
The Cardinals built a 4-0 lead before the Green Dragons pushed across two unearned runs in the bottom of the third inning to cut their deficit to 4-2.
South Laurel added a run in the fourth inning before adding four runs in the fifth inning and another run in the sixth inning to secure the victory.
Alsip tossed five innings of one-hit ball, finishing with nine strikeouts while Culler pitched two scoreless innings, surrendering only one hit, and striking out three batters.
Tyler Curry led the way at the plate with two hits, and RBI and two runs scored while Vince Sizemore delivered two hits and walked once. Reece Noble had a hit, two RBI and one run scored while Austin Byrd finished with a hit, an RBI, and two runs scored. Keaton Creech delivered a hit, an RBI and one run scored while Jamison West finished with a hit and an RBI. Keaton Smith also had a hit while Waylon Hensley scored once. Jack Vaughn drove in a run while Kamdin Dewees scored a run and stole three bases.
The loss dropped Harlan to 1-1. Baylor Varner and Jaxson Perry finished with a hit and an RBI apiece.
