JACKSON — Trent Hartzog threw a 5-inning no-hitter as theLawrence County Cougars defeated the Jim Hill Tigers 10-0 Fridaynight at Battlefield Park. The Tigers were doomed by 9 errors.

A walk and a hit batsman got Hartzog into a bit of a jam in thefirst inning. After he pitched himself out of that, Hartzog did notallow another base runner, in running his record to 5-0 on theseason. He struck out 8 of the 16 batters he faced.

With the win, Lawrence County improved to 11-2 on the season,and 4-0 in Division 6-4A play. Jim Hill fell to 5-4, and 1-3 in thedivision. First-year Cougar coach Cory Keyes was happy to get thiswin behind him.

“We had a tough time of it up here last year,” Keyes said. “Ascoaches, we preached hard against it, but we were worried that ourguys might overlook Jim Hill. They play pretty well here, and(Rafael) Jackson is a tough, crafty pitcher.”

Jackson stranded 2 Cougar base runners in the first inning, butwas hurt by 2 critical errors in the second. With 2 out, a JeremyWilliams fly ball was dropped, and a Johnathan Stephens groundedwas erred, leading to 4 unearned Lawrence County runs. TaebyusSmith finished off the rally with an RBI single.

Lawrence County scored 6 more in the fourth, again all unearned.Hartzog and Smith had RBI doubles in that inning. Stephens and NickJackson also had hits for the Cougars.

With 10 runs on the board, it was up to Hartzog to close out thegame in 5 innings. He did so efficiently. After the 2 free passesin the first inning, Hartzog went to a 3-ball count just once morein the game.

“Trent has a lively arm,” said veteran LCHS assistant CraigDavis,” but, historically, he’s walked or plunked more than hisshare. He’s been very efficient in 4 of his 5 outings this year.and we hope to see that for the next 2-plus years. He’s doing avery good job for us.”

Junior Varsity Action

Lawrence County defeated Jim Hill 8-2 in a 3-inning juniorvarsity game. Christopher Smith worked the first 2 innings, andJustin Hewitt, the third.”