The baseball season for the Cougars, already struggling after just two games, took a turn for the worse on Tuesday as the Warren East Raiders sent them down for their third straight loss, 20-0 in five innings.
In the three games played so far, the Cougars and their young pitching staff have allowed 38 runs. The offense in that time has produced just two runs.
On Tuesday, Raider right-hander Ryan Hawks pitched five innings of shutout ball for the win, allowing the Cougars just three hits while striking out 11.
Grayson County, on the other hand, used six pitchers over four innings. They allowed just nine hits, a respectable amount in a 20-run game, but they walked 15 batters and hit six others with pitches.
Warren East sent seven batters to the plate in the first inning, when they took a 1-0 lead. They then batted around in both the second and third innings, when they added six more runs. Finally, in the fourth inning, the Raiders sent 18 men to the plate and scored 13 times. Cougar pitchers only allowed two hits in the inning, but walked nine and hit three with pitches.
Adding injury to insult, sophomore Noah Bullock, who took to the mound in the second inning in relief of starter Damon Simon, was drilled by a line drive off the bat of Raider shortstop Ty Stringfield in the third inning. Bullock tried to stay in the game, but after hitting the next batter, was removed and was taken for X-rays of the wrist on his throwing hand. No details were available on his condition as of Wednesday morning.
By Don Brown, Local Sports
Reach Don at donbrown@k105.com
Noah Bullock ripped a line drive in the first inning,
but was thrown out by Raider pitcher Ryan Hawks.
Bullock later had to leave the game after being hit
on the wrist by a line drive while on the mound.
