Warriors survive 8-7 in 1st round at CBA

PIKEVILLE — Don’t suggest to the Hunt High and Charles B. Aycock varsity teams that baseball is not a game of inches.

By the margin of maybe an inch, Hunt celebrated an 8-7 thriller in the opening round of the NCHSAA 3-A playoffs on the Charles Davis Baseball Field at CBA on an ideal Tuesday evening.

Trailing 8-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, the Golden Falcons, seeded No. 15 among the 32 3-A East Region qualifiers, fought from an 8-4 deficit to pull within a run with base runners at first and second with two outs.

On a two-strike pitch from junior right-hander Connor Radford, the third Hunt pitcher, junior Jones Winters, CBA’s leadoff hitter, connected on a Radford fastball, propelling the baseball high into the night, toward the left-field fence.

Warriors’ sophomore left fielder Trevor Moore scrambled to the wall as far as he could go, situated himself, leaped, reached his glove over the wall and pulled in the blast off Winters’ bat.

Thus, Hunt, the No. 18 seed, advanced into Friday night’s second-round clash against 3-A Quad County Conference champion West Johnson, a 1-0 winner against Southern Nash on Tuesday night. Both teams — as well as CBA — hailed from the Quad County, and Hunt dealt West Johnston its only conference loss during the regular season.

The Falcons, No. 2 from the Quad County, exited in the opening round for the second straight year with a 15-7 mark. Hunt, No. 5 in the Quad County, keeps playing with a 14-8 record after losing both regular-season games to CBA, both in the same week in mid-March.

“I’m getting too old for this,” said exhausted veteran Hunt head coach Jon Smith.

But back to the towering, game-ending blast of some 315 feet.

“It would have been gone,” expressed Hunt’s Moore. “I leaned back and it was over. I could not have reached back a lot more.

“When I saw it come off the bat, I went running. I thought it was gone. But, then, I thought I had a chance. I jumped and I caught it. It was just adrenaline, wanting to go after it. Now, we’ve got to get the next one.”

While Moore basked in the biggest moment of his young Hunt career, CBA’s Winters graciously offer his take.

“Holy cow!” Winters said he reacted. “It was enough; it was gone. It was a fastball and jammed me on the handle (of the bat) a little bit. I thought it had a chance. On a different day, it would have happened. It hurts.”

CBA head coach Allen Thomas noted the night air had thickened and, earlier in the game, Winters’ shot would likely have cleared the left-field wall.

“It is what it is,” Thomas reasoned with a shrug. “I have seen pop flies go out of here. It was definitely a big thing in the game.

“Off the bat, I thought it had a chance. It was not one that I knew was gone, but it was going to be close. But it was hit so high that (Moore) had time to get back and feel for the fence. He made a calm play on it.”

Commented Smith: “There’s not much I haven’t seen in all my years of coaching. But it goes, you give him a tip of the hat.”

And, finally, the evening was calm as, in the late going, fans for both teams were expressing their complaints about the umpiring.

Along with Moore’s game-saving catch, walks hugely influenced the outcome. The Warriors converted six of the nine walks issued by CBA pitchers into runs, and five Falcons’ resulted from five of the eight Warriors’ pitchers free passes.

“Giving away free base runners really hurt,” Thomas reviewed. “We don’t usually have that many walks. But we were going with the guys that got us to this point. Hunt took advantage of the free base runners, and that’s what good teams are going to do. Hunt plate well.”

The Warriors actually plated what proved to be the decisive run in the top of the seventh inning against Winters, who was working in relief.

With one out, junior Hunt first baseman Joe Glover drew a walk. With two outs, junior Barnes Willoughby and freshman Davis Turner worked Winters for walks to load the bases. First baseman Nick Worrell, the only senior in the Hunt lineup, responded with an RBI single for the 8-4 Hunt cushion.

Hunt built its lead to 7-4 with two runs in the sixth. After an error, wild pitch and a walk, Worrell delivered a sacrifice fly. Another miscue on junior Seth Evans’ grounder plated the second run.

Hunt played flawlessly the first five innings. Starting pitcher Evans, a right hander, constantly escaped trouble through three-plus innings. Freshman right-hander Stone Massey, who got the win, squelched a CBA uprising in the fourth. Back-to-back walks resulted in Massey’s departure in favor of Radford in fifth. Radford, who started at shortstop, gutted in out the final 2 2/3 innings and earned the save.

The Warriors turned two double plays — including a critical one after CBA had pushed across two runs in the sixth. A dandy lunging catch from second baseman Willoughy started a dubbed play in the third. Junior Ryan Bass dazzled behind the plate. He threw out one CBA base runner and, in the fourth, nailed a Falcons base runner attempting to scamper from second to third after an errant Evans pitch slammed off the backstop and was quickly retrieved by the strong-armed Bass.

“He’s a good catcher,” Smith hailed Bass.

Sophomore right fielder/shortstop Will Doll hammered a two-run double off starting CBA  sophomore left-hander Janeson Steele in the first. The Warriors never trailed.

But the score was knotted at 2-2 when Hunt tagged sophomore left-handed reliever, Braxton Toler, the loser, for three runs in the top of the fifth. Toler retired but one batter, yielding two walks and an RBI double to Radford. Bass’ clutch single plated two more runs for a 5-2 Hunt cushion.

“Will came through early,” Smith replayed. “Ryan got a big hit. Our planned pitching rotation was Evans to Massey to Radford – and that’s the way it worked out. Connor toughed it out.

“They were fouling off good pitches; they made it tough on us.”

CBA nicked Evans for two runs in the fourth. Two walks were factors, and JJ Buckley, the only senior in the Falcons opening lineup, and junior catcher Dalton Smith each singled. Smith, sophomore Caden Cox and junior Landon Davis each singled in the two-run sixth — before Hunt turned the double play.

Buckley’s double launched the CBA uprising in the seventh. Radford issued three walks, forcing in a run, and Toler drilled a two- run single to chop Hunt’s lead to 8-7. But after Radford’s second strikeout, all eyes focused on Moore, who said his butt was touching the wall.

“(Steele) gave us four good innings,” Thomas said. “But after throwing 33 pitches the first inning, we knew we were not going to extend him any more than we had planned. His pitch count was up.

“We didn’t swing the bats very well, but give credit to Hunt. We didn’t play all that badly. But the free base runners …”

Moore mentioned how badly the Warriors wanted to avenge their regular-season losses, but Smith reminded: “We make it tough on ourselves.

“CBA is not going to quit. They have good ball players and tough kids, and they are well-coached. They are used to winning over here. The game is over and I still don’t feel that comfortable.

“But it is what it is. Good win and we keep playing.”

Score by innings:

Hunt 200 032 1 — 8

CBA 000 202 3 — 7

WP-Stone Massey 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO. L-Braxton Toler 1/3 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO. S—Connor Radford 2 ⅔ IP, 5 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 SO.

LEADING HITTERS — Hunt: Connor Radford 2-3, 2B, 2 RBIs; Will Doll 1-2, 2B, 2 RBIs; Ryan Bass 1-3, 2 RBIs; Nick Worrell 1-2, 2 RBIs. C.B. Aycock:Jones Winters 2-5; JJ Buckley 2-4, 2B; Dalton Smith 2-4, RBI; Caden Cox 1-3, 2 RBIs; Braxton Toler 1-3, 2 RBIs; Landon Davis 1-3, RBI.

The post Warriors survive 8-7 in 1st round at CBA first appeared on Restoration NewsMedia .