By Denis House
Sports Editor
LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. —
One day after Ryan Shears struck out nine batters, Ethan Eversole repeated that feat as the North Laurel Jaguars blanked Rockcastle County on Saturday, 5-0.
“That’s encouraging,” North Laurel coach Darren McWhorter said. “People ask me who my No. 1 pitcher is, and I don’t know. I think we have four guys I can throw and have confidence in. All four can throw complete games, throw strikes and keep their pitch count down.”
Eversole not only fanned nine batters, but he allowed only one hit, a first inning single by Zack Reams. It was in the first inning that Eversole worked his way out of a jam, as he loaded the bases with no outs after Reams’ single was sandwiched between walks to R.J. Smith and Boone Saylor. But Eversole struck out Chris Wren, then got Tyler Smith to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat.
Marcus Carson scored the first North Laurel (17-3) run in the bottom of the first when he led off with a triple to center off Jake Mink and scored when Eversole flew out to right.
The Jaguars made it 2-0 in the second, but could have had more, as they left the bases loaded.
John Evans led off the inning with a bunt single, and Gabe Blair followed with a single to center. Clay Montgomery came in as a courtesy runner for Blair.
Mink retired the next two North Laurel batters as was looking to get out of the inning when Austin Thompson singled to left to score Evans to make it 2-0. Carson drew a walk to load the bases for Zach Storm, but Mink got him to pop out to first to end the inning.
The Jaguars left two more runners on in the third inning, wasting back-to-back singles by Shears and Evans with only one out. McWhorter said his team has been struggling at the plate over the past couple of games.
“We’re not hitting as good as we can all the time,” McWhorter said. “But we are making plays, and when you are striking out batters and not walking them, you can win games.”
North made it 3-0 in the fourth when, with two outs, Carson doubled to left, stole third, then scored on an error.
Two more runs in the fifth upped the lead to 5-0. Eversole helped himself by leading off the inning with a single to left and moved to second on a wild pitch. Shears walked, then Eversole looked to be caught in a rundown between third and home, but was able to beat the throw to the plate for a 4-0 lead.
Evans would reach on an error, which scored Shears for the fifth run. North would load the bases with one out, and that would be all for Mink, who was replaced by Cody Brown. Brown struck out Thompson and got Carson to force a runner at second to get out of the inning.
A hit batsman in the sixth gave the Rockets one runner on with two outs. Smith grounded to Evans at second, who tried to tag out Wren, but the umpire ruled he missed the tag. With two runners on, Eversole struck out Brown to get out of the jam. He would then strike out two of the three batters he faced in the seventh for the win.
“We are finding ways to win games,” McWhorter said. “We’ve still got things to do and work on. Our pitchers are throwing well. But we had some chances with the bases loaded that would have put it away but that didn’t happen.”
The Jaguars were on the road at Somerset Monday and Barbourville Tuesday, and will travel to face South Laurel on Friday.
sports@sentinel-echo.com
