The Piedmont Kingsmen Baseball team finally got back on the ball field on Tuesday night, defeating rival SCBL Carolina Vipers at York Comprehensive High School, 5-2.
The Red and Blue turned to Pasco Hernando attendee, Taylor Rohrer for his first start of the season. Rohrer, who reported to Rock Hill on Saturday, as Pasco Hernando CC was playing in the Junior College World Series. Rohrer did not disappoint for Manager Joe Hudak, throwing 5.0 innings, striking out nine batters, and allowing only two runs in his debut.
Six Pride batters registered hits, while Richard De La Cruz and Mark Engel both picked up multi-hit games. Engel had his best game of the season so far, going 3-for-3 at the dish and driving a run in.
“When you play five games a week, and then three get rained out in a row, it kind of felt like we hadn’t played in forever. Our guys come out and played well today and our three new guys (Taylor Rohrer, Brayden Lyman, and Peter Brown) all contributed well in this win for us.”
Brayden Lyman suited up for his first game of the season, driving in two runs in his debut for the Pride. Lyman, who is teammates at Pasco Hernando with Taylor Rohrer, was the Piedmont Pride player of the game.
The Pride struck first in the ballgame, using back-to-back singles from Richard De La Cruz and Andrew Judkins. Mark Engel strung together the third single in a row, scoring Judkins from third and taking the first lead of the game. Two more runs would come across in the home half of the third, as the Pride took a 3-0 lead.
Joe Sibeto and Brayden Lyman both registered sacrifice flys as the Pride took a 5-0 lead heading into the sixth.
The Vipers struck for two runs in the top of the sixth, but Andre Hevesy recorded his second save of the season shutting the Vipers down in the 7th, 8th, and 9th.
The Pride will be back in action tomorrow night, June 12th, as the Charlotte Crushers come into town for a make up game.