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Musketeers swing into action: Multiple pitchers, hitters contribute to Greenup's win over Tomcats

william adams, the daily independent, ashland, ky.
·4 min read

Mar. 29—LLOYD — Greenup County fans saw many Musketeer pitchers and even more Musketeer runs Thursday night as their team knocked off Ashland, 9-2.

"When you're throwing strikes and fielding the ball, it makes it a lot easier," Greenup County coach Steve Logan said. "It puts your pitcher in a comfort zone. We got off to a rough start, but it happens and it'll happen again. But we answered and got a good win against a quality pitcher."

Greenup County turned to five different pitchers on the night, but none exceeding 33 pitches.

The Tomcats got the game moving after Sam Lions reached on an error and Brady Marushi got on after a hit-by-pitch.

"We pitched and hit it better tonight, we just didn't have a lot to show for it," Ashland coach Shane Marushi said. "We hit a lot of balls right at them. We're just leaving too many outs on the field. When you're not going to score a lot of runs, you have to value every out."

Parker Church drove both runs in with a shot into left field which was mishandled on the throw to the cutoff.

Musketeer pitcher Cohen Underwood got the team out of the inning without any more damage by striking out Pierce Wamsley looking.

Greenup County responded at the bottom of the opening frame.

Collin Alexander batted in Bradley Adkins before a sacrifice fly brought in Underwood, who got on after a double to left field.

The Musketeers repeated the work in the bottom of the second, hanging another pair of runs on the Tomcats.

Both runs came after Adkins sent a rocket into left field for a standup triple that brought in Gage Gullett and Kasey Gammon.

Greenup County changed pitchers and brought in Hunter Holbrook between the second and third innings, but it didn't seem to disrupt the Musketeers' defense.

"We want to be fresh, arm-wise when we make our trip to Florida Sunday," Logan said. "We just wanted to get them some bullpens. We're going to have to develop some arms and we're going to have to throw them into the fire and see if they can extinguish it."

Ashland couldn't find any room offensively in innings two through four. The Tomcats escaped the third inning without giving up any runs, but Greenup County got back at it in the fourth.

Underwood sent a base hit into left field that brought Matthew Boggs home before crossing the plate off a hit over first base by Ty Logan.

The Musketeers again changed pitchers as Logan took the mound to start the fifth inning.

The only thing that changed for Greenup County defensively in the fifth frame was getting out of it early with a 1-2-3 inning.

LJ Murphy returned the favor for Ashland by turning away the Musketeers in a 1-2-3 outing of their own.

"He's got a lot of talent," Marishi said of Murphy. "And he's only going to get better as he gets bigger and stronger. To see him in those situations, where we didn't do him any favors, was a good sign to see him work through that."

Greenup County made another change at the mound to start the fifth frame, bringing in Gavin Roy for Logan.

Trailing 6-2, Murphy sent a ball to the centerfield wall for a standup double to try to get the Tomcats moving, but that's all Ashland could muster.

Greenup County added its final three runs in the sixth inning with a two-run RBI double from Roy and a sacrifice fly from Gage Gullett.

The Musketeers made one last pitching change, subbing Luke Boggs for Roy.

Gage Millette hit a single for Ashland but that's all the Tomcats could manage.

"We didn't allow the big inning to creep up on us," Logan said. "I thought they all did a really good job. They never had any big threats and we took control over our errors."

Marushi hopes his crew can learn from these early losses and put the record out of their minds as they head to Myrtle Beach during spring break.

"I want them to have a good time," Marushi said. "We want to hit the reset button and look at it as being 0-0. We'll see quality teams and quality arms. and that's what we want. It's the only way we'll get better."

ASHLAND 200 000 0 — 2 2 3

GREENUP CO. 220 203 X — 9 9 3

Murphy, Francis (6) and Marushi; Underwood, Holbrook (3), Logan (5), Roy (6), L. Boggs (7) and Adkins. W — Holbrook. L — Murphy. 2B — Underwood (GC), Murphy (A). 3B — Adkins (GC).