GAFFNEY, S.C. – In the 1988 movie “Bull Durham”, longtime minor leaguer Crash Davis tells young upstart pitcher Nuke LaLoosh that “strikeouts are boring. Besides that, they’re fascist.”
Don’t say that to either of the starting pitchers from Tuesday night’s Inman-Gaffney Dixie Majors game. It was a battle of wills as Gaffney southpaw Kirby Connell and Inman right hander Clay Cox announced their respective presences with authority and posted very impressive outings for their clubs on the mound. In the end, a late inning spark helped Inman hold off Gaffney by a 5-3 tally. Gaffney’s Kirby Connell was locked in from the start, striking out the side to open the game on 12 pitches. In five and one-third solid innings of work, Connell allowed just two runs, with one of them being earned, while striking out 12 Inman batters. “Everybody’s heard about Kirby and how well he throws,” Inman starting pitcher Clay Cox said. “As the person throwing against him, it gets my adrenaline flowing. That amps it up on my part, knowing him as a person and from playing baseball together (and) against each other.” In the sixth, Cox had a chance to help his own cause with two runners aboard and one out. He smacked a 1-1 offering from a Gaffney reliever to right-center field for a two-run double, giving Inman a 4-2 lead. Ryan Hall later drove in Cox with a two out single to make it a 5-2 advantage. Cox posted an equally remarkable outing, tossing five and two-thirds innings. He held the Crusaders to two runs (one earned) and notched a game-high 14 strikeouts. In total, both pitching staffs combined for a whopping 29 strikeouts. “The first inning was a little rough,” Cox stated. “Paxton (Tolleson) and I were able to get on the same page with each other. He knew the signs that I wanted before I threw it. We got behind (in the count) a few times, but the fielders played great, Paxton called a great game behind the plate, and I just pitched.” “(Clay) probably pitched the best game I’ve seen him pitch tonight,” Skinner remarked. “He was throwing strikes. When he does that, he’s really effective. We knew runs were going to be hard to come by and we needed some innings from him. He did a heck of a job for us.” Inman reliever Jack Thompson threw the final one and one-third innings to pick up the save. Also at the plate, Triton McSwain and Paxton Tolleson each drove in a run in the second and third innings, respectively, to give Inman an early 2-0 lead. Inman (5-2) will play their third game in as many days this week on Wednesday as they hit the road to face Buffalo at the Timken Sports Complex. First pitch is slated for 7 PM. -Justin Mathis Comments are closed.
|