ONA -- Cabell Midland junior Corey Miller must have been feeling like a million bucks Wednesday evening because his performance on the baseball field made it a day he will never forget.
Going into a matchup with Spring Valley, Miller had never hit a home run at the high school level.
Miller brought an end to that streak by smashing not one, but two homers out of the park in Cabell Midland's 8-4 victory.
"It's a great feeling to hit two home runs and it's something I have never experienced," Miller said. "I think the first homer got everybody pumped up and we just rallied around each other."
Cabell Midland (3-1) couldn't hit a beachball in its last game against Ripley, but the Knights came out Wednesday with a hitter's mentality. Believing it could and would pound the ball around resulted in the Knights rapping nine hits.
It wasn't a day for pitchers, as Spring Valley (3-1) tallied 10 hits.
"We judge on how we rebound and we responded from the loss to Ripley," Cabell Midland coach Tracy Brumfield said. "We have been working on our hitting in practice and the kids did well against a great team."
Spring Valley claimed an early lead when a Heath Booton groundout scored Cody Smith in the top of the first inning.
In the home half of the first Miller drilled the first pitch Cody Bays threw out of the park to left field to tie the game 1-1. Later in the inning the Knights took a 2-1 lead when Chase Perry's single gave Pat Stapleton just enough time to score from second base.
Cabell Midland kept the pressure on in the bottom of the third inning by putting three more runs on the board to take a 5-1 lead. Perry came through again for the Knights by hitting a line drive single to score two runners.
Spring Valley responded in the top of the fourth inning as Smith hit a single to score Clay Crabtree and Kevin Lawrence. That tightened the gap to 5-3.
But any momentum Spring Valley had established fizzled out instantly. Miller smacked his second homer over the center field fence in the bottom of the fourth inning to send the Knights' dugout into a frenzy.
Cabell Midland seized control of the game for good in the bottom of the fifth inning with two more runs.
Stapleton displayed track runners' speed for the Knights, scoring from second base three straight times on nothing more than base hits. Stapleton managed just one hit, but Spring Valley paid a price for walking him twice.
Spring Valley had a key opportunity in the top of the fifth inning, loading the bases on consecutive singles by Ryan Workman, Zach Harrison and Booton with no outs. But, the Timberwolves scored just one run.
"The pressure is off and there is going to be no 30-0 (record)," Spring Valley coach Jim Hensley said. "We had our chances today with the bases loaded, but we couldn't take advantage of it."
Miller led the charge for Cabell Midland, hitting 2-for-4 with the two homers. Perry was also solid, batting 2-for-3 with 2 RBI.
Spring Valley's loss couldn't be blamed on a poor day at the plate. Smith, Workman, Harrison and Crabtree all had two hits.
SPRING VALLEY 100 210 0 -- 4 10 2
CABELL MIDLAND 203 120 x -- 8 9 0
Bays, Workman (5) and Moore; Nelson, Hall (6). WP -- Nelson: LP -- Bays.
Hitting -- (SV) Cody Smith 2-3, 2 RBI; Ryan Workman 2-3; Zach Harrison 2-3; Clay Crabtree 2-3; (CM) Cody Miller 2-4, 2 HR; Chase Perry 2-3 2 RBI; Jake Gaskins 1-3, RBI; Pat Stapleton 1-2, 3 runs.
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