Published: May 06, 2008 11:30 pm         

Mavs’ Ray shines in win over Summers

HINTON — It was by no means a one-man effort but Logan Ray provided plenty of fireworks for James Monroe Tuesday as the Mavericks rolled over Summers County 12-2 in the Class AA Region 3, Section 2 tournament.

Ray was solid at the plate and on the mound. The junior hit a grand slam home run, doubled and knocked in six runs with his bat and scattered five hits, while striking out eight and walking none.

“(Ray) is a good pitcher,” Bobcats coach Josh Houchins said. “We faced him early in the year but we got a better pitching performance then.”

After the Bobcats scratched out a run in the top of the first inning off a Mavericks’ error, James Monroe tightened up on defense and turned loose its hitters.

With one out, Ernie Tincher tied the game with a solo shot to right field off Bobcats’ starter Tavan McKinney. McKinney induced Josh White into flying out to center but walked the next three batters on 12 straight pitches to load the bases.

Ray greeted reliever Tanner Lilly with a towering shot over the fence in left-center field to clear the bases and the Mavericks were never challenged again.

Ray would double in two more runs in the Mavs four-run second inning.

“We’ve been waiting on him to hit the ball,” James Monroe coach John Mustain said. “We DH’d for him some early on, then we started putting him in the lineup. He hadn’t really made good contact but he did today what he is capable of doing.”

“He showed some patience up at the plate, which makes all the difference.”

Josh White added a double and a walk-off home run to seal the win for the Mavericks and scored three runs.

On the mound, Ray gave up a solo home run to Brandon Plumley and a double by Tanner Lilly back-to-back in the third inning and not much else.

“He’s a good solid pitcher,” Mustain said. “He’s not unhittable. He’ll make some mistakes every now and then but he spots the ball well.”

Summers County hindered its own effort by giving up 10 walks combined between three pitchers.

“I was hoping to get a little better pitching than we got,” Houchins said. “We walked too many early and then when we did throw strikes... They’re a good-hitting ball club. That’s about all you can say. They hit the ball and we didn’t.”

The Bobcats face PikeView at 6 p.m. today in the elimination game, with the winner advancing to face James Monroe Thursday. Mustain, though, isn’t looking ahead to the regional semifinals just yet.

“Both of them are good teams,” he said. “Anyone that thinks this thing is over with is absolutely crazy, because they are both tough. They have both played us tough previously this year.”

— E-mail:

rjett@register-herald.com



James Monroe 12, Summers County 2

SC: 101 00 — 2 5 1

JM: 542 01 — 12 8 2

SC: Taran McKinney, Tanner Lilly (1), R.J. Sears (3) and Nick Bennett, JM: Logan Ray and Caleb Ballard. WP — Ray. LP — McKinney. Hitting — SC: Brandon Plumley 2-3 (hr, rbi, run), Tanner Lilly 2-3 (2b, run), McKinney 1-2, JM: Ray 2-3 (hr, 2b, 6rbi), Josh White 2-3 (hr, 2b, 2rbi, 3 runs), Ernie Tincher 1-2 (hr, rbi, 2 runs, sb), Heath Archie 1-1 (2rbi, 2 runs), Chris Frazier (run), John Ballangee (2 runs), Ballard 1-2 (run).

Records: SC: 5-17; JM: 13-7.