varsity.roanoke.com

Who had pitching left? The winners did, of course.

The last two teams standing in the River Ridge District baseball tournament brought back front-line pitchers to close matters out and both did the job that was expected of them.

Thomas Kuhlman had just enough to keep Blacksburg off balance for four innings as Hidden Valley took the tournament championship 6-4 Friday evening at Kiwanis Field.

In the third-place game, Cave Spring had ace Steven Koll ready to go on the mound and he delivered a complete game performance that stopped Salem 11-4 and earned the Knights the league's third invitation to the Region IV tournament that starts next week.

"The three best teams talent-wise are going on," said Salem coach Jim Stepp, whose team uses six sophomores and one freshman on a regular basis.

Kuhlman wasn't in top form but still pitched well enough for his 10th victory balanced against zero defeats. The rangy junior right-hander scattered 10 hits over four innings but gave up only four runs. The Bruins stranded six runners in four innings including four in the third and fourth.

Kuhlman had an idea of what he was going to do after defeating the Bruins 3-2 on April 21 in Blacksburg.

"Both days, I really didn't have my best stuff," he said. "I don't know that I necessarily overcame anything. My team picked me up. They were behind me. I was leaving the ball up. Blacksburg is a powerful hitting team. You make a mistake, and they're going to hit it."

Such was the case, twice, with one batter in particular. Mark Manthe, who overcame a severe beaning and major knee surgery in the offseason to make it back for his senior season, hit back-to-back home runs, both line drives, and collected three RBIs. Blacksburg's only lead was 1-0 when Manthe took Kuhlman deep the first inning. Manthe hit three home runs in two tournament games.

"Kuhlman's a good pitcher," Blacksburg coach Jim Shockley said. "We did a good job getting four runs off of him. That's probably the most he's given up in a while."

Breakthroughs were hard to come by after that, though. Eric Houff, who went 3-for-3, drove in one more run in the fourth, but the Bruins were blanked by Nick Ferguson the last three innings.

Blacksburg wasn't the only team good for a power surge. Titans shortstop Cam Hodge hammered a George Perkovich pitch over the fence in left center to give his team a 5-1 lead after two innings. It was Hodge's first homer.

"I saw a pitch up, it looked good to me, and I swung at it,' Hodge said. "It's been a struggle so far this year but lately, I've turned on a little bit and am hitting the ball better."

Hidden Valley (17-4), which won its seventh straight, won its second district tournament in a row. The Titans are home for a 5 p.m. Tuesday clash with Monday's winner between the No. 3 teams from the Southwest and Piedmont Districts.

Blacksburg (13-9) is on the road Monday to Southwest champ Tazewell. Cave Spring entertains Carroll County at 5 p.m. Monday

The Knights battered three Salem pitchers for 14 hits, erasing a 3-1 deficit with a five-run third innings.

Nathan Wimmer, the Knights catcher, drove in four runs.

"I've been working on going the other way with the ball and that's helped me a lot with my average and RBI," he said.

Koll struck out five and walked one in the complete game victory.

Salem 120 001 0 -- 4 11 5

Cave Spring 105 050 x -- 11 14 2

Wimmer, Hill (4), Harth (5) and Williamson. Koll and Wimmer. W-- Koll. L -- Wimmer.

Blacksburg 102 100 0 -- 4 10 1

Hidden Valley 411 000 x -- 6 6 1

Perkovich, Bishop (3), Fraley (5) and Sburlati. Kuhlman, Ferguson (5) and Vess. W-- Kuhlman. L -- Perkovich.