For The Tribune

A good old-fashioned pitching duel was the story at the baseball game between Trinity Lutheran and Corydon Central on Tuesday.

Cougars sophomore Sam Crick pitching the first three innings while giving up no hits and recording five strikeouts prior to relief pitcher Jake Moore’s five strikeouts and two hits performance.

The final score read Cougars 1-0 after seven innings, despite the team’s zero hits on the evening. The Cougars scored their lone run on a squeeze play in the third inning when Jacob Schult scored on a fielder’s choice.

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Panthers pitcher Tyler Stauth pitched a no hitter but gave up an unearned run in the third inning.

However, the Cougars pitching was equally good and that made up the difference.

“Our pitching was outstanding,” Cougars coach Bob Tabeling said. “Sam (Crick) came in and got us off on a good note. Jake Moore came in and threw four extremely strong innings. Jake did the same thing as Sam and got his off speed over the plate, and that seemed to cause them some frustrations. Both young men pitched an outstanding game.”

Tabeling said the contest was one of the best games his team has played this year.

A young team, the Cougars are in the process of strengthening their base running.

“We have a young team, and they need to understand, there are times when we have to put the ball in play, and we may have to sacrifice ourselves, but we need to score the run,” Tabeling said.

“We had several opportunities to score. It would have been nice if we could have scored a couple more runs and put a lot of pressure on them, but we are young, and we are learning those things, and hopefully by the end of the season we’ll have it under control,” he said.

The Cougars (6-4) have a nine-game-stretch where they will be facing some very tough competition, including some 3A schools.

On Saturday, the Cougars will travel to Brownstown Central for a Jackson County showdown.