Game Recap with Connor Wilson from Kingsmen Baseball
Game Recap with Jake Wright from Kingsmen Baseball
By Jerob Moon- Sports Information
YORK- The Piedmont Pride (24-7) extended their winning streak to four games with an 11-3 win over the Carolina Vipers (24-13) on Wednesday. The Pride used a nine-run, eighth inning to comeback from a 3-2 deficit and inch closer to overtaking the SBA Bones for first place in the SCBL standings.
“It’s a big win for us. This was a really good ball game, it was back and forth. Both starters threw well,” Coach Joe Hudak commented after the win. “The Vipers got a run in the top of the eight that we gave to them, but I was really pleased with how we came back and swung the bats in the bottom of the eighth. That’s kind of the trademark for our club, we’re never dead and we score a lot of runs late.”
The Pride and Vipers were locked in a close game most of the way. Starters Zach English and Jack Bergren were in a pitcher’s duel through the first seven innings. The Pride took a 2-1 lead in the third with a sac bunt by Hayden Smith and a RBI single by Connor Wilson. The Vipers scored in the sixth to tie the game and then took the lead in the top of the eighth after scoring on an error.
Then the Pride did what they do best, they locked in and battled back in the bottom of the inning. The duo of Smith and Wilson gave the Pride the lead. After a RBI single by Smith, Wilson hit a line drive double that scored two runs to give the Pride a 5-3 lead. The team wasn’t done as Brian Moore and Jake Wright hit back-to-back homeruns. Moore’s three-run homerun blew the game open 10-3, and Wright’s solo blast capped off the seven hit, nine run inning.
Starter Zach English threw very well despite earning the no decision. English pitched six strong innings, giving up two runs, and striking out four. Zach Shank pitched in the last two and two-thirds innings, surrendering only one hit and run, and three strikeouts.
Wilson and Wright highlighted a great night batting for the Pride. Wilson went 2-4 with three RBI’s, and Wright went 4-4 and scored three runs along with his solo homerun.
Coach Hudak knows that the team has been playing their best recently. “You want to be playing your best ball at the end of the year, and I think we’ve been doing that. Hopefully we play two more good games on Friday, and we get ready for the playoffs.”
The Pride have been playing great baseball to end the season. They are 9-1 in their last ten games and are only a half-game behind the first place Bones. The team finishes the regular season, on Friday, with a doubleheader against the Lake Norman Copperheads (14-17). The Pride need to win both games to have any chance of winning their third straight regular season championship. First pitch is at 5 pm from York Comprehensive High School.
