Caldwell County continued a solid start to the 2024 baseball season by blanking Hopkins County Central 10-0 in six innings Monday at the VFW Ballpark in Princeton.
Scott Cortner extended his season-opening scoreless innings string to 14 with a complete-game three-hitter for the Tigers. Cortner is 2-0 with a save this season as Caldwell improved to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in the 7th District.
Carter Whittington was 3-for-3 at the plate and scored four times for the Tigers.
Caldwell took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first, then added two runs in the third, four in the fourth and two more in the sixth to end the game early on the 10-run mercy rule.
With the win, the Tigers extended their winning streak against the Storm to 17 straight. Caldwell has taken 29 of the last 30 matchups to go up 46-15 in the all-time series.
Ari Wells singled home a run in the first inning and later scored on an RBI groundout by Cole Slone to put the Tigers up 2-0.
Wells drove in another run in the third on a ground ball to second base. Wells reached base on an error on the play, then later scored on an infield single by Collin Whittington.
Carter Whittington, Luke Parker and Slone each had RBI singles as part of the four-run fourth. Another run scored on a wild pitch as Caldwell went up 8-0.
Carter Whittington singled to start the sixth inning and scored on an error to make it 9-0.
Wells walked and later scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Slone to hit the mercy rule at 10-0.
Slone was 1-for-2 with three runs batted in. Cortner finished 2-for-3 at the plate.
Cortner struck out five, walked two and hit two batters while going the distance on the mound for the Tigers.
Caldwell and Hopkins Central (2-2, 0-1) will meet again on Thursday, this time in Mortons Gap.
Next up for the Tigers is a trip to Lyon County on Tuesday.
