The pitching of Kevin Howard and the power of Chris Saylor were too much for the Evarts Wildcats to overcome on Tuesday.

Howard (2-0) pitched a complete game for the Cawood Trojans, allowing four hits with eight strikeouts and one walk.

"That's the longest he's went all year," said Cawood coach David Fee. "He hasn't pitched over four innings, and he was hurt today with a pulled hamstring, and we didn't think we'd have him today.

"I was real pleased with the way he pitched. Our pitching is so banged up we needed someone to pitch a complete game so we could have someone for Cumberland on Thursday. He gave us what we needed today."

Saylor, a senior center fielder, smacked two home runs and drove in three runs to lead the Cawood offense. Marty Miniard followed with a two-run double. Cory Daniels, Corey Estep, Justin Harris, Howard, Sonny Wiseman and Jason Clem each singled once.

"Chris once again is on a tear," said Fee. "We put him leading off about two weeks ago, and he is absolutely killing the ball from that leadoff spot.

"Jason Clem looked 10 times better at the plate today and we're real happy about that. We put the ball in play and made them make the plays."

D.J. Helton (0-5) suffered the loss for the Wildcats. He worked 4 1/3 innings, giving up nine runs on six hits. He fanned six and walked two. Scottie Middleton allowed five walks and struck out one in one inning. Ray Dillman pitched the final 2 2/3 innings.

"We've kindof been snake bitten all year," said Evarts coach David Evans. "Cawood put the bat on the ball and did what they had to score some runs."

R.J. Penny led the Wildcats with two singles. Dillman and Kevin Burkhart each singled once.

"I felt like the key to the game was they scored some runs early and took us out of some things we like to do. I ran us out of the first inning with a good batter at the plate and a runnere in scoring position."

Daniels and Estep each walked in the first inning and scored on Miniard's double to left-center field.

Wiseman had a one-out singled in the second inning and scored when Saylor slammed his first home run.

With two outs in the third inning, R.J. Penny singled and scored on an error.

Saylor's bat pushed the lead to 5-1 after four innings with a home run to left, his third of the season.

The Trojans put the game away with a four-run fifth inning as they sent 10 batters to the plate. Estes, Howard, Wiseman and Harris each crossed the plate.

Evarts added two runs in the seventh inning as Dillman and Burkhart each singled. Shawn Hoskins grounded out to drive in Dillman. Joe Cottrell reached on an error as Burkhart closed the scoring.

"Howard just threw a great game," said Evans. "He spotted the ball well and threw strikes. He's a good kid and real competitive."

The Wildcats played without senior third baseman Josh Snelling, who recently left the team.

Both teams return to action on Thursday. Cawood (7-2) travels to Cumberland and Evarts (0-11) visits Whitley County.

Cawood 220 140 0 9 9 5

Evarts 001 000 2 3 4 5

Howard and Estep; Helton, S. Middleton (4), Dillman (6) and Marsee. WHoward (2-0). LHelton (0-5). HRCawood, Saylor 2 (3).