During early season dugout chats, Scott County baseball coach Scott Willard has been persuaded to channel the bunting and base running wisdom of Whitey Herzog more religiously than the bombs-away and big-inning approach of Earl Weaver with his team.
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Saturday evening in Shelbyville, however, SC showed its skipper that there's at least a chance of the Cardinals acting out a motion picture with a heavy soundtrack.
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Luke Valencia's home run — the first in five games courtesy of a Scott County swing this season — sparked an eight-run second inning and launched a 14-6 win at Collins.
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Valencia added an RBI single after the Cards batted around in their most prolific window of the season. Jay Wilson also belted a bases-clearing double and Shawn Rowe clouted the first of his two triples on the night to highlight a frame that staked SC to an 11-0 lead.
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Wilson went 3-for-5 with four RBI to lead a 13-hit attack for Scott County (3-2). Tyler Robinson and Paul Garner joined Valencia and Rowe with two hits apiece.
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Scott County's pitching quartet of Asher Harrington, Brennan Liebenauer, Rowe and Garner combined to allow five hits and not a single earned run. They served up seven strikeouts, led by Liebenauer's four.
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Justin Stevenson singled, stole second base and scored the first of his three runs on a base hit by Wilson to ignite a three-run first.
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Rowe walked ahead of an RBI infield single by Landon Whitson. Collins (3-3) threw out Whitson attempting to take second, but courtesy runner Jack Willhite scored behind the play to extend the lead.
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Harrington breezed through his first two innings on the mound, allowing only a one-out double to Donavin Carroll in the Titans' first. That set the tone for SC to put it out of reach in the third, beginning with Valencia's line-drive blast to left field.
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Robinson singled, Connor Caudill was ht by a pitch and Stevenson walked to quickly load the bases. Collins pitcher Daniel Elmore briefly stopped the bleeding with a strikeout prior to Wilson’s three-run knock into the gap for a 7-0 advantage.
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Scott County wasn't finished. Rowe continued the extra-bases theme with another rip into the deepest part of the park.
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A dropped pop-up and walk set the table for more production from Valencia, who greeted reliever Brady Williams with an opposite-field single that pushed the margin to double. Robinson rounded out the inning withanother hit and RBI.
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Harrington worked around a double and walk to cap his scoreless stint after three innings.Â
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Collins broke through in the fourth with a help of a walk, an error and a hit batsman, leading to a three-run triple from Jordan Harris to make it 11-4.
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Neither team scored again until the seventh, when Stevenson walked, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored his third run of the contest on a hit by Garner.Â
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Rowe ripped an RBI triple to right and returned home on a bounce out by Whitson.
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Collins capitalized on an error, two walks, another hit batter and a lone single by Caleb Bailey for two runs in the seventh. Garner took over from Rowe and struck out Alston Whitworth looking to end the modest rally.
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Scott County hosted Lafayette after press time Monday and will travel to George Rogers Clark (Wednesday) and Anderson County (Thursday).
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SC's 3-2 record represents the latest the Cardinals have been above the .500 mark since the 2019 season, when they went 23-12.
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