Prep Baseball

Cothren had a solo home run among his three hits, Chris Wolff went 2 for 4 with a run batted in, Mike Murphy tallied an RBI single in three at-bats and Andrew Hernandez was 2 for 2.

Stevenson got its three runs--all earned--in the top of the third inning to take a 3-1 lead against Cothren and the Cougars.

But Cothren got things under control after that, blanking the Bulldogs the rest of the way. He finished with eight strikeouts and three walks, and left six baserunners on base.

"Cord was in control on the mound the whole game," Cougars Coach Scott Myers said, "and he and Eiesland crushed the ball."

Lyle tied the game at 3-all with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third, then blew the game open with five-run rallies in the fourth and fifth frames.

In game two, victory eluded Lyle in its final turn at the plate.

"We had the bases loaded with one out in the sixth, the tying run at third (base), and we had a check-swing double-play, home to first, to end the game," Myers said. "Tough loss."

The Cougars trailed 8-3 going into their last at-bats but put the pressure on Bulldogs starter Casey West by scoring four runs.

The opportunity for more was dashed, however, when West fielded a dribbler in front of the mound and threw home to catcher Kelly Powell to start the game-ending double play.

Powell also aided Stevenson's cause by wielding a potent bat. He doubled twice and drove in two runs to help the Bulldogs tag Eiesland with the loss.

Eiesland closed out his 2008 debut with a stat line of five hits, four walks and two earned runs allowed, and 11 strikeouts.

West gave up eight hits, eight walks and six earned runs, struck out seven and stranded nine Lyle baserunners.

Cothren paced Cougars batters with two doubles, three hits and an RBI. Eiesland, Murphy and Ty Freemantle each had a run-scoring single.