Published: May 06, 2008 12:51 am            

Poole swings for fences in Jeff victory

Junior swats to homers as Devils beat Dogs in HHC tourney

NEW ALBANY — This meeting between the Jeffersonville and New Albany baseball teams was much closer.

In fact, it came down to just two swings of the bat.

But those two swings belonged the Red Devil slugger Cody Poole, who crushed two home runs, had five RBIs and led Jeff to a 10-4 victory over their archrivals in the first round of the Hoosier Hills Conference Tournament at Mt. Tabor Field on Monday.

Poole’s second bomb came as part of a five-run seventh inning for Jeff, which led just 5-4 entering the frame. After a sacrifice fly from Brian Mendenhall plated the first Devil run, Tony Moore blasted an RBI single. Cleanup hitter Sam Burke then reached on a single of his own, and Poole cleared the bases with a shot that left no doubt as to where it was headed when it came off the bat.

“When he hits it, it just jumps off the bat,” said Jeff coach Al Rabe said of Poole. “He’s swinging the bat well right now.”

For the Bulldogs, who lost 9-1 to Jeff earlier this season, it was all about missed opportunities.

New Albany managed to get runners on first and second with no outs in the fourth, but watched Red Devil starter Hunter Tipton strike out Jacob Jones and Taylor Klein to end the threat.

That was followed in the fifth by back-to-back singles from Jason Cruse and Phil Forbis, who advanced to second on an error and set up New Albany with runners on second and third with no outs. While Sean Godfrey laced a double to score two runs, Nathan Poff and Simon Weber each struck out to let another golden opportunity slip away.

“We’ve got runners at third with one out or less in three innings, so we’ve got eight outs to score,” said Bulldog coach Chris McIntyre. “We struck out seven times. We didn’t battle at the plate. We swung way too many times at balls in the dirt or well outside of the strike zone. It’s disappointing.”

Poole also homered in the sixth, breaking a 3-3 tie with a towering shot that scored Moore. Aaron Hargett also homered for Jeff, giving his team the lead for the first time on a two-run shot in the top of the second.

Tipton went the distance in the win, improving to 5-0 on the year. He surrendered eight hits and four earned runs, but struck out 15 and never wavered in the face of several potentially-long Bulldog rallies.

“He didn’t have his really good stuff,” Rabe said. “Anybody can go out there on the mound and pitch a game, but it takes a special pitcher to beat good teams without his best stuff.”

Travis Sands took the loss for New Albany, leaving the game after six innings with New Albany down a run. Graham Brown came in for the seventh, giving up all five of Jeff’s runs in the frame.

“Graham has really done a good job in relief for us,” McIntyre said. “Tonight just wasn’t his night.”

Still, it was a far cry from the first game between the teams, and McIntyre said that New Albany is still improving steadily.

“We’re better than we were at that point,” McIntyre said. “They just hit the heck out of the ball. It’s nothing that we did defensively. We’ve just got to give ourselves a chance at the plate. We were finding ourselves down 0-2 on pitches that weren’t strikes, and that gives the pitcher an advantage real quick.”

Jeff advanced to meet Floyd Central — 2-0 winners at Seymour on Monday — in the second round of the tournament on Wednesday. New Albany will travel to Seymour on Wednesday.



JEFFERSONVILLE 030 002 5—10 11 2

NEW ALBANY 100 021 0—4 8 2

W — Tipton (5-0). L — Sands (4-2). 2B — Godfrey (NA), Cruse (NA), Fertig (J). HR — Hargett (J), Poole (J) 2.

        

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