Cash is money for South Putnam

Thursday, May 28, 2009
SPHS junior Drew Cash rounds second while recording a triple. He collected a double, a triple and a home run on the night

SPEEDWAY -- The only thing raining down at the Speedway baseball sectional Wednesday was hits from South Putnam. The Eagles collected eight extra base hits en route to their 11-1 decision over Covenant Christian.

"We hit the ball awfully well, we hit the ball well," South Putnam head coach Troy Burgess said. "I think playing yesterday was kind of a blessing. We swung the ball very well yesterday against a very good pitcher and it just carried over today for us. I'm excited about that."

The Eagles boasted two home runs, five doubles and a triple on the evening.

South Putnam's Noah Boswell gets ready to deliver a fastball during Wednesday's contest against Covenant Christian.

Drew Cash wielded the biggest bat of all, going 3-for-3, while collecting a double, a triple and a home run, including four RBIs. Cash was injured in Tuesday game, but the injury had little effect on the junior.

"He got hit in the hand last night by a pitch and we sent him to the hospital because we thought he might have broken one or two fingers, but it wasn't broke," Burgess said. "We didn't know if he could even grip a bat; it was a gametime decision, let's see if you can grip it. Let's try it, get one at bat and then we'll get him out of there if he can't.

"I tell you what, if it starts to get feeling better, we're going to take a hammer and hit him with it on Sunday night," he joked.

Cash wasn't the only Eagles' that had a hot bat. Cameron Chestnut went 3-for-4 with a double and a home run, while Noah Boswell was also 3-for-4 with a double. Derek Dean and Josh Flory both added doubles, with Dean contributing two RBIs. Brayden Freeman was 3-for-4 at the plate with an RBI.

Covenant Christian jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning, but that would be all the offense they could muster.

On the flipside, South Putnam put runs on the board over the remaining four innings. With John Spencer and Rob Gibson sitting on base, Cash smashed a double to the left field wall to score the duo and get the offense going.

The Eagles entered the top of the fifth inning with a 7-1 advantage, but their bats were not done.

Gibson reached after being hit, and then Cash sent a shot into the stratosphere and rose high and landed well beyond the left field fence. Teammate Chestnut followed with a long bomb of his own that nicked the top of the fence in left-center field bringing the score to 10-1 in favor of South Putnam. Dean came to the plate, drove a shot to center field scoring Boswell to end the game.

The Eagles will now have to wait until Monday to continue its quest for a sectional championship, but Burgess is confident that his squad will be ready.

"That's tournament time," he smiled. "You'd better do it or you're going home. We have a veteran team here and these guys have logged a lot of varsity minutes over the last year or two. In Noah's case, this is his fourth go-around at it. This is old hat for him

"I think they understand the importance of it. We play in a tough conference; we've played in some close games and I think they understand it's important. I don't think staying focused will be a problem," Burgess added.

The win gave the Eagles 19 on the season, which is a new school record. With the new record and bats seemingly on fire, Burgess and crew are still looking at the horizon.

"Yeah, it gave us 19 wins, but 20 sounds awfully good right now. We'll see what happens," he concluded.

South Putnam will play Speedway at 5 p.m. Monday.

At Speedway

Class 2A No. 46 Sectional

South Putnam 032 24 -- 11 15 1

Covenant Christian 100 00 -- 1 4 2

WP -- Boswell

LP -- Spencer

HR -- Cash, Chestnut (SP)

3B -- Cash (SP)

2B -- Chestnut, Boswell, Dean, Flory, Cash (SP); Schinderle (CC)

Next game -- South Putnam will play Speedway at 5 p.m. Monday.