PIRATES SQUEAK BY COUGARS 6-5 - Phenix City, AL

The Chattahoochee Valley Pirates hosted the Cougars from Lawson State Community College in a non conference ball game on Thursday here at Howard Lake Field. CV Starter David Head (ND 6.2IP, 5H, 6K) had another solid outing for the Pirates, but a chance for a victory was squandered by four Chatt Valley throwing errors that led to 5 Cougar runs. Fortunately for Head and his shipmates at CV, the offense was able to put together two rallies in the seventh and ninth innings to overcome the Lawson State runs.

The game started well for the Pirates, David Head retired the side easily in the top of the first and the CV offense wasted no time getting on the board. Alex Montes led the game off by reaching base and was followed by "Fast Eddie" Foster who launched a Cougar fastball over the left center field wall to give the Pirates a two run lead. The homer was the first of Foster's career here at Chatt Valley. The second inning looked to be going as smoothly as the first until a Pirate error led to a run and got the Cougars on the board. CV answered back with a run of their own in the bottom of the second, but Lawson took advantage of a second throwing error to score another unearned run. The Pirates' bats were quieted in the third and fourth innings, and the game looked to be in question after LSCC put two more runs across the plate in the top of the fifth inning. CV was kept at bay in the box for the next two innings before a fifth Cougar run chased Head in favor of third year pitcher Chris Ferguson in the seventh inning. Ferguson made his second appearance of the season after sitting out all of last year due to Tommy John Surgery. Ferguson was a critical part of the Pirate staff as freshman in '06 as a conference starter, and he made an immediate impact in this game, retiring the first hitter he saw to end the Cougar threat.

The bottom of the seventh finally saw some life returned to the Pirate bats as a pinch hitting Ben Lillis delivered a clutch, two out single through the middle to score two runs, knotting the game at 5-5. Ferguson pitched a flawless eighth inning for CV, and looked very strong in the ninth as well, but a scrappy Cougar team managed to load the bases with two outs in the ninth. Wade Dudley was called in from the bullpen to keep the tie in order, but a very controversial call at first base allowed the go ahead run to score before Dudley was able to record the final out of the inning.

The bottom of the ninth inning started with catcher David Buchanan drawing a leadoff walk. Leadoff man Alex Montes attempted to move Buchanan up with a bunt, but saw two strikes go by without success. With the two strike count in place, head coach Adam Thomas gave Montes the green light, and the ever productive center fielder did not dissappoint. Montes stroked the would be out pitch into left field for a huge single that set the stage for Logan Foster to play a little small ball. After taking two strikes of his own, Foster was able to execute a text book sacrifice bunt to advance both runners and keep the Pirates out of what could have been a catastrophic double play situation. With both runners now in scoring position, short stop Ben Lillis stepped into the box looking to add to his RBI tally for the day. Lillis didn't waste any time, smoking the first pitch he saw down the third base line for a game winning, walk off single.

The heart pounding victory was the Pirates' fifth in a row and bumps their record to 7-2 on the year.