After eventful fourth inning, Ashland holds off Mount Vernon for OCC win

ASHLAND — All looked well for the Arrows through three innings against the Ohio Cardinal Conference runner-ups a year in ago in Mount Vernon.

More: Ashland County Baseball Power Rankings: Hillsdale in early season No. 1 spot

Ashland held a three-run lead and their No. 1 pitcher Luke Bryant was throwing it well. Then the fourth inning happened, when both teams combined to score nine runs but the Arrows were able to hold on 7-6 for the early season win.

Up 3-0 heading into the fourth inning, Mount Vernon (3-2) dropped five runs in the top of the inning to go up 5-3. All the momentum that the Arrows (1-1) had gained was lost in such a short period of time.

"Mount Vernon is a good ball club," Ashland coach Rick Gough said. "We knew they were gonna punch us back. They hit a couple of bloops. We walked a couple of guys and they scored. I expected it. Luke got out of it and limited the damage."

More: 2024 Ashland County Baseball Preview Part 4: Ashland Arrows

"I think the message was we gotta keep fighting," Ashland second baseman CJ Cox said. "We struggled putting up runs in our first game and we started out hot today."

Then the bottom of the fourth inning came and Ashland answered back by scoring four runs, which included runs driven in by Bryant, shortstop Alex Grissinger and with the game tied at 5-5, Cox drilled a deep two-run double into the outfield that helped the Arrows regain the lead.

"My approach was there was only one out with two on," Cox said, explaining his huge at-bat. "I knew I had to put the ball in play, preferably in the outfield. He threw me a changeup down and away and I got around on it. It felt good off the bat."

"It was huge," Gough said. "We went to Wooster last week and got no-hit. Beat 3-0. Offensively, the goal today was obviously to get the offense going. We scored seven runs, so we did."

Cox and Gough then touched on how difficult it's been to get any kind of rhythm going on the baseball field with many of the early season games getting canceled by inclement weather.

"It's our third game in 20 days," Gough said. "It's tough to build any kind of consistency."

"The weather has sucked lately," Cox said. "But to give Mount Vernon, in their last trip up here, a loss, is great. We have to go there tomorrow and hopefully give them another one of those."

jsimpson@gannett.com

Twitter:@JamesSimpsonII

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Ashland answers back in late innings to defeat Mount Vernon