K-Tribe hangs on

Published in Sports on August 24, 2005 1:57 PM

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KINSTON -- Scott Roehl shut out Frederick for seven innings while setting a season-high with eight strikeouts and the bullpen survived a late rally by the Keys as Kinston defeated Frederick 5-4 Tuesday night.

The win snapped Frederick's eight-game winning streak and moved Kinston to 27-31 in the second half and 68-60 overall, while the Keys fell to 33-22 and 68-57.

Roehl and Frederick starter Beau Hale settled into a pitcher's duel almost immediately, with both pitchers facing just one over the minimum through four innings.

The Indians finally scratched out a run in the bottom of the fifth however, as Brian Barton and Michael Butia led off with singles to put runners at the corners with no one out. Ryan Goleski then came through with an ideal piece of situational hitting, lofting a sacrifice fly deep enough to center field to allow Barton to score and give the K-Tribe a 1-0 lead.

The Indians got two more in the sixth Mike Conroy's two-run home run to right, and Kinston added another run in the seventh on David Wallace's frozen-rope RBI double to the base of the wall in dead center field to make it 4-0.

The Keys cut the lead in half with a pair of two-out runs off Matt Davis in the eighth, but Kinston responded in the bottom of the inning with what at the time appeared to be just an insurance run. With two out in the eighth, Stephen Head lined a single to center field to keep the inning alive for Barton. Behind in the count 1-2, Barton drilled a hit-and-run triple to right-center field to score Head all the way from first and push the margin to 5-2. That innocent-looking extra run proved to be the winner.

Lefty Shea Douglas opened the ninth for Kinston, but gave up a single and a walk to the first two hitters. Brian Bock popped up however, and Bryan Bass then flied to center to take Frederick to its final out. With Mike Russell ready to pinch-hit, K-Tribe manager Luis Rivera called on Jim Ed Warden for the righty-righty matchup. But Warden, who blew the save Monday, gave up a single to Russell to load the bases and Rivera promptly replaced him with Kieran Mattison. Jeff Fiorentino grounded a single past a diving Brandon Pinckney to score two runs and push the tying run to third, but Mattison got Nate Spears to fly out on the next pitch to finally finish it off.

Roehl (2-0) was simply outstanding, holding the Keys to four hits and one walk in his longest outing of the year. He did not allow a runner past second base and set a season-high with his eight Ks.

Hale (1-2) worked into the sixth but didn't record an out and allowed three runs and six hits in five innings. Mattison, who made the All-Star team and had 24 saves for Lake County in the South Atlantic League to begin the year, got his first save of the season in his second appearance for Kinston.

Conroy finished 2-for-3 with his seventh home run of the year and Barton also had two hits.