Game Recap from Kingsmen Baseball
By Jerob Moon- Sports Information
CHARLOTTE, NC- The Piedmont Pride and the SBA Bones faced off in the SCBL Championship for the second straight year. The top two teams in the league started the series with a doubleheader at Charlotte Christian on Saturday. The Pride won Game One 8-4, and the Bones took Game Two 7-3. The split sets up a winner talk all Game Three at York Comprehensive High School on Sunday.
“Overall I thought we played really well. In the first game we played a great ball game in all three phases. We had good pitching especially from our relievers, and we swung the bats well,” Coach Joe Hudak commented after the game. “In Game Two, we had one bad inning, an error that gave them four unearned runs, which ended up costing us. Other than that I thought we played hard and we played well, and we’ll be ready to play tomorrow.”
Game One was a competitive game that went back and forth. The Pride scored two runs in the second and fourth innings, and held an early 4-1 lead. Outfielder Jake Wright hit a two-run homerun in the fourth, his sixth homerun of the season.
In the bottom of the fourth the Bones scored three runs to tie the game up at four, but the Pride scored three runs in the top of the sixth to take the lead once again. The Pride took advantage of fielding mistakes by the Bones in the sixth, as Josh Baker and Brian Moore scored because of two errors in the inning. Moore also added an RBI single in the sixth.
The Pride relievers pitched another great game. After starter Tommy Guglielmello pitched three and a third innings, the trio of Tristan Helms, Enrique Perez, and Zach Shank held the Bones scoreless for the final three and two-thirds innings, securing the win for the Pride.
Game Two the Bones came back strong and scored five runs in the third and held the comfortable lead throughout and won 7-3.
In the third with the bases loaded, second baseman Ty Reginelli hit a three-run triple that gave the Bones a 6-0 lead. The Bones were also led by starting pitcher Grant Byers, who went five innings and gave up only one run while striking out six Pride batters.
The Pride didn’t give up and made the game closer with a pinch hit, two-run homerun in the sixth by David Posas. Starter Cory Conway pitched all six innings in the loss for the Pride allowing seven runs to score and striking out eight. There is a silver lining for the Pride in the loss, with Conway pitching the entire second game, most of the relievers will be available to pitch in tomorrow’s deciding game three.
So for the second straight year, with the series tied at one game apiece, the Pride and the Bones will play in Game Three in the SCBL Championship. Last year the Bones beat the Pride 6-5 in the deciding third game. The Pride are looking for redemption from last year, and their first SCBL Championship as a team.
Coach Hudak knows tomorrow will be a fun game. “This is how it should be, you’ve got two really good clubs and it should come down to the last game. And whoever wins is the champion, they’re really good and we’re really good and we are looking forward to playing.”
Enrique Perez gets the start for the Pride, First pitch from York Comprehensive High School is set for 5 pm.
