The Cornersville Bulldogs notched their second shutout of the young season when they defeated the Wayne County Wildcats 7-0 at home on Friday night to run their record to 3-0.

After allowing a total of just two runs in their first two games of the year, the Bulldogs got another strong pitching performance on Friday, as starting hurler Cody Blackburn and reliever Jody Sullivan combined to toss a two-hitter against Wayne County.

Blackburn allowed just one hit in five scoreless innings of work while issuing no walks and notching six strikeouts en route to earning his first win of the season. Sullivan then came on in relief of Blackburn in the top of the sixth and yielded a hit and two walks over the final two innings.

Top talent

"Cody was very good today. He came on during the last half of last season and we're going to count on him this season. We've got more pitching depth than we had last year," said CHS coach Ben Putman.

Bolstered by a seven-run fourth inning, the Bulldogs finished with nine hits and three walks against two Wayne County pitchers to go along with three Wildcat errors.

Designated hitter Neil Davis led Cornersville's offensive attack by going 2-4 with a homerun and 4 RBI. David Looney and Aaron Fox each tallied two hits for CHS as well with Looney driving in two runs, while Blackburn (1 RBI), Sullivan, and Jacob Griffis had one hit apiece.

Working it out

The Bulldogs committed three errors as well, but also turned a double play while catcher Tyler Lowery threw out a Wayne County base runner in the top of the fifth inning.

"The wins are great, but we've still got some things to work on and we're still making some mistakes so we can't get overconfident," said Putman.

Chase Turnbow and Alex Harris each singled to account for both Wildcat hits. Wayne County starting pitcher Lucas Ray suffered the loss on the mound after giving up five runs over three plus innings on three hits and two walks.

Cornersville left runners in scoring position in the second and third innings, but saw the flood gates open up in the bottom of the fourth, as they crossed home plate seven times in the frame to take a 7-0 lead..

Ray hit Griffis with a pitch to start the inning before Davis blasted a two-run homer over the left centerfield fence to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead. Following a single by Sullivan, Fox reached on an error and Tate Lowery drew a walk to load the bases with no outs. Looney then slapped a two-run single into centerfield to make it 4-0 before Tyler Lowery drew a walk to reload the bases. After Zach Richards hit into a fielder's choice to erase Tate Lowery on the base paths, Looney scampered home on a RBI bloop single by Blackburn to push CHS' lead to 5-0. Davis then plated Tyler Lowery and Richards by ripping a two-run single down the left field line to cap the scoring in the inning.

Shutout

Wayne County had a chance to get on the board in the top of the sixth after loading the bases with two outs on a Turnbow single and a pair of CHS errors, but Sullivan retired Corey Stooksberry on a fielder's choice to escape the jam.

Sullivan then worked around two walks in the top of the seventh inning with the aid of a 4-3 double play to close out the Bulldogs' 7-0 victory.