Despite being held hitless until the bottom half of the fifth inning, the Piedmont Kingsmen Baseball team scored 10 unanswered runs to defeat the Lenoir Oilers, 10-5. The Pride move to 1-0 on the season.
“You can watch guys all day in practice, but when the lights turn on and it actually counts, that’s when you really find out about your ball club” head skipper Joe Hudak had to say after the win.
Pitching was dominant for the Pride in the season opener. The combination of four arms struck out 17 opposing batters. Evan Mauldin got his first start of the season, throwing for 4.0 innings, allowing only two hits, and striking out eight Oilers.
Andrew Judkins and Jason White lead the way for the Red and Blue offense. Judkins went 3-for-4 on the night with three RBI’s. “It felt great to get off to a hot start for the summer” said Judkins after the game. Fellow outfielder Jason White also drove in three runs on the night while also drawing a walk to help the Pride get on the board.
The Oilers jumped on the board first in the contest, using a walk and a double to plate a run in the top of the fourth. The Oilers would add on to their lead in the fifth, plating another run, taking a 2-0 lead.
The Pride would respond with five runs of their own in the home half of the fifth. The rally started with 3 straight singles to load the bases, with the singles coming from the bats of Ben Sneider, Tyler Estridge, and Joe Sibeto. With the bases loaded, Jason White would pick up his first RBI of the season, showing great plate presence to draw a walk. The very next batter, Scottie Lee, would ground out to the Oilers second baseman, but driving a run in for his first RBI of the season as well.
With two outs, and the ball game deadlocked at 2-2, the right fielder from The Citadel, Andrew Judkins, hopped all over a ball that was left up in the zone, crushing a 2 RBI single to right field, and the Red and Blue took their first lead of the game, 4-2.
The boys in Red and Blue added five more runs in the bottom of the 6th, using an error, three walks, two hits, and two wild pitches to plate five more runs.
The Pride will be back in action tomorrow night, as they head to take on the Statesville Owls in Statesville, North Carolina. First Pitch is scheduled for 7 pm.
