Game Recap from Kingsmen Baseball
By Jerob Moon- Sports Information
YORK- The Piedmont Pride (7-2) split a doubleheader and the four game series with the Carolina Vipers (3-4) Saturday night at York Comprehensive High School. The Vipers took Game One 10-5, and the Pride took Game Two 9-0, behind Zach English’s no hitter. English went 7 innings, 2 walks, and 6 strikeouts.
In Game One, the Vipers jumped out to an early 7-1 lead. The Pride offense came to life in the fourth inning with four runs that made it a two run ballgame. Roury Glanton and Javon Martin hit a pair of two-run homeruns into left center. However, the Vipers put the game out of reach with two more runs in the fifth, and took the game 10-5.
The Pride bounced back in a big way in Game Two as Zach English was locked-in from the start. He retired the first 13 batters he faced and then gave up two straight walks in the fifth inning – those were the only batters to reach base. English regrouped and retired the final eight batters of the game, four of them by strikeout.
English was entered the seventh inning on a tight rope with 90 pitches thrown, SCBL rules allow a pitcher to throw a maximum of 100 pitches in a game. He only needed eight pitches to retire the last three batters. After English struck out the final batter, his teammates mobbed him at the mound and gave him a Gatorade bath during his postgame interview.
“Whatever Coach Hudak was telling Kit [Capell] to call tonight was working. I don’t know why but the Lord allowed me to have this tonight,” English said after the game. “It was a great feeling, I was a little mad about the two walks but it’s alright.”
“Zach English threw a great ballgame, he had good command of all of his pitches, and we are very happy for him,” Coach Joe Hudak said. “Everybody was nervous and not saying anything about the no hitter. I knew about it in the third inning. And I was the one calling the pitches, so I felt like I couldn’t make a mistake. But he executed all of his pitches, and I’m very happy for him.”
English and the Pride got the run support they needed in the fourth inning, the team exploded for nine runs on eight hits. The Pride had six straight singles in the inning that led to four runs crossing the plate. Roury Glanton capped off the inning with a two-run homerun, his third straight game with a homerun. Glanton has hit a homerun in four of the past six games, and leads the SCBL in batting average (.538), homeruns (5), and RBI’s (15).
“Roury is seeing the ball really well, and he’s got absolute mammoth power. It’s hard to pitch around him because he has guys in the lineup around him that are hitting the ball well too, that’s good for us,” Coach Hudak said about his slugger.
The Pride improve to 7-2 on the season and look forward to a three game homestand, and their matchup Monday against the Charlotte Galaxy (1-6). Last time these two teams met, the Pride demolished the Galaxy 25-3. First pitch is at 7 pm at York Comprehensive High School.
