[2/25/03]Porters Chapel Academy waded through Tri-County’s entire pitching staff like a choosy person at a buffet on Monday.

The Eagles looked around for a while until they found something they liked, then dove in and got just enough to leave Pierce Field satisfied, happy with an ugly 4-2 win and ready to move on to the next game.

Ryan Hoben (1-0) pitched five innings of scoreless relief and helped his own cause by driving in a run on a sacrifice fly, and Chase Towne and Josh Rush both went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI as PCA beat the Rebels 4-2 in the season-opener for both teams.

Despite collecting nine hits, PCA struggled at the plate. The Eagles only had two hits in the first four innings, and didn’t record a groundball out against five Rebel pitchers.

“We did not swing the bats very well. We had a lot of strikeouts and a lot of pop-ups, and it’s just from a lack of work,” said PCA coach Randy Wright, who estimated he has only had a handful of practices with his full team because of bad weather and the end of basketball season. Five of PCA’s starters on Monday were also on the basketball team, which finished its season on Feb. 3.

PCA’s sluggish start helped Tri-County take an early lead on Monday and throw a scare into the Eagles.

Tri-County shortstop Eric Green reached on an error to lead off the second inning, then advanced to second on a single by Edward Hayes. Catcher Brentley Davis followed with a double to score Green, and starting pitcher Drew Posey plated Hayes two batters later on an RBI groundout to put the Rebels ahead 2-0.

“I think we were a little surprised,” Tri-County coach Joe Goolsby said of the Rebels’ early lead.

That was all the Rebels could muster, however. PCA starter Andrew Embry, who was on a 30-pitch limit, was relieved by Hoben after the second inning and the junior shut down Tri-County the rest of the way.

Hoben allowed only one hit and three walks in five innings, and struck out eight.

“He was throwing good,” said Rush, who moved from third base to catcher when Hoben went to the mound. “He wasn’t throwing too hard that first inning, but the second inning he was in, he was throwing gas.”

Tri-County’s pitchers, meanwhile, were throwing anything but gas and it was working.

Posey, Russ Taylor, and Joshua Osborne teamed up to allow one earned run, three hits and three walks in the first four innings while striking out five. The trio didn’t have a lot of velocity on their pitches, but PCA struggled to get its timing down on the slower-moving balls.

The Eagles did scratch across single runs in the third and fourth innings on RBI singles by Towne and Aaron Curry, but didn’t put together a true rally until the fifth.

Against Green, a harder thrower than the previous Tri-County pitchers, the Eagles teed off. Towne started the inning with a double, then scored on Rush’s double down the left field line to put PCA ahead 3-2.

Joseph Ivey came in as a courtesy runner for Rush, and went to third on a single by Humphrey Barlow. Ivey then scored on Hoben’s sacrifice fly to center to make it 4-2.

“Finally, somebody started putting something on it and we started hitting it. The first few guys were coming with more off-speed stuff,” Wright said.

Like Wright, Goolsby said his team has struggled to find practice time.

“I’d like to have seen my first and second pitcher go longer, but they hadn’t been able to throw much,” Goolsby said. “Porters Chapel is a good-hitting ballclub, and we probably should have stayed with more off-speed pitches.”

Once PCA got the lead, Hoben made sure it stuck. He hit a batter and allowed a single to Davis in the sixth, but pitched out of that jam and allowed only one ball out of the infield in the last two innings.

“Hoben really looked good. He had good pop on the ball, and his slider was working really good,” Wright said. “Pitching and defense won this game for us, no question.”