Warren East kept battling, even with a multi-run lead and Davion Downey throwing a solid game to open the Warren East Invitational.

The Raiders were in control from the start against Paducah Tilghman, but stamped the convincing victory with four runs in the sixth inning for the 9-2 win Thursday afternoon at Warren East High School.

Warren East (7-4) held a 5-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth after Paducah Tilghman (8-3) added runs in the previous two innings. Faced with two outs, Warren East drew four straight walks, got a two-run double from Ryan Hawks and an RBI from Matt Alford in the four-run frame.

Hawks finished a perfect 4-4 at the plate with four RBIs.

“We like to battle in the count and really make them fight for the outs,” Hawks said. “We like to capitalize on our opportunities and put some runs up.”

The Raiders’ ability to keep driving in runs while facing two outs was a bright spot for coach Wes Sanford, who said his team was otherwise rusty. Warren East had lost two straight one-run games to South Warren, the last one a 10-inning decision.

“That’s something good teams can do and it was nice to see us do that,” Sanford said. “We weren’t able to do that against South (Warren) last week. We weren’t able to run a bunch of runs or hits together. It was good to see us get after it.”

Downey (1-0) went six innings for 11 strikeouts for his first decision this season. He allowed four hits and gave up Paducah Tilghman’s only two runs before Grant Turner closed the game in the seventh inning.

“He attacked the zone really well and it was good to see,” Sanford said. “Davion can work the count pretty good and wastes a lot of pitches, so to make it as deep as he did in the game and not be absolutely wore out, it was great.”

Warren East got started early with RBI singles from Hawks and Dakota Basham in the first inning, marking the sixth time this year the Raiders have scored multiple runs in the first.

Hawks led off the bottom of the fourth with his second hit and eventually scored on an error to make it a 3-0 lead.

Paducah Tilghman got on the board with Eric Riffle’s two-out triple deep to right field in the top of the fifth. Hawks and Alford stretched the lead to 5-1 with back-to-back RBIs in the bottom of the fifth.

The Blue Tornado cut it to 5-2 in the sixth before the Raiders scored four runs in the bottom of the frame.

Despite bagging nine hits and making all the routine plays in the field, Sanford still wants more out of his club before more Region 4 and District 14 opponents show up on the schedule.

Warren East will play Mason County at Nick Denes Field at Western Kentucky University on Friday at 4:30 p.m., then it will play McLean County on Saturday afternoon at WKU. The Raiders haven’t played there since they won the region in 2011.

Sanford thinks a taste of Nick Denes Field now could give Warren East a push to get out of the district and into the region tournament for the first time in six years.

“We need to find some more intensity,” Sanford said. “We’re not playing hard enough. Right now, we don’t have a lot of energy and that’ll carry over into us playing better. We have to show more energy and show more effort.

“It’s going to be exciting and the kids haven’t been able to play (at WKU) in a while. Maybe it’ll make us hungry and want to play better.”

PTHS 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 – 2

WEHS 2 0 0 1 2 4 X – 9

WP: Downey. LP: Humphrey.{&end}