Tradewater Pirates article

Here's an article I wrote last Thursday night for a 9:30 p.m. deadline.

Tradewater pitcher George Hebert turned in a strong starting performance, and the Pirates appeared poised to win their seventh game in a row, holding a 7-2 lead in the top of the eighth inning as of press time. Hebert struck out 11 batters and did not allow a run between the first and eighth innings. The Pirate batters provided Hebert with plenty of run support. Tradewater attacked for three runs in the bottom of the second inning and never surrendered the lead. Tradewater took the lead by playing a bit of small ball in the second inning. Logan Bawcom and Bo Bell began the rally by reaching on consecutive fielding errors. Jason Cramer followed with a bunt single to load the bases, and a Justin Long groundout tied the game. Shortstop Mike Finigan had the hit of the inning when he ripped a two-run single to right field for a 3-1 advantage. After allowing a run in the first inning, Hebert settled down in the second inning, striking out the side. While Hebert continued to mow down the opposition on the mound, Tradewater scored two runs in the fifth and sixth innings. During the fifth inning, Andy Gerhartz led off with an infield single and Matt Kulbacki drove him home all the way from first on a RBI double. Richard Atwood added another run to take a 5-1 lead on a RBI single up the middle. The Pirates benefitted from some shaky pitching in the sixth inning to score two more runs. Tradewater sent eight batters to the plate and scored twice on RBI walks with bases loaded. The Oilers chased Hebert in the eighth inning on a RBI triple to cut the lead to 7-2. With a win, the Pirates’ lead in the KIT League would move to 11⁄2 games ahead of Fulton after the Railroaders loss to Union City on Thursday.