Back-to-back: Mustangs are SHL champions
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
DODSONVILLE — For the second straight season, the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs are Division I Southern Hills League champions.
The Mustangs clinched the 2011 SHL title with a 12-3 league win over the North Adams Green Devils, improving to 10-1 in league play. The next closest team to LC is Eastern Brown with four league losses.
LC now has 22 SHL baseball championships.
"I'm excited for this group. We brought back four guys from last season's group, so it is a different team. I've had most of these kids at the JV level for the past two years, so that's cool to get your own stamp on some things here," LC head coach Garyn Waits said. "Winning a league title is something we expect, that's where it's at, and it is our goal. Now our goal is to win a sectional."
"For the seniors, it is good to see them go out with that."
Saturday, which was the sixth straight win for LC, was a day where the Mustangs didn't score their first run until the third inning, as they were the away team on their home field, due to field conditions at North Adams.
This past week, LC had wins against Ripley, Whiteoak and now NA, where they totaled 36 runs while allowing just eight.
After their one-run first inning, which was scored by Chaz Lanier on a base hit by Wes Pierson, LC added five runs in the fourth and six runs in the fifth inning.
"We started to hit the ball in the third and fourth inning. We started putting the ball on the bat, and that really helped. I'm impressed with the way we battled back (after the first two innings)," Waits said.
The five-run fourth inning got rolling with a one-out base hit by Ryan Doss, followed by a double by Dallas Puckett. With two outs, Lanier loaded the bases with a walk. Scott Cawood brought home one run with a walk, and Colin Creek cleared the bases with a three-run triple.
Creek scored on a fielding error by the Green Devils.
Lynchburg-Clay's final six runs came in the top of the fifth, an inning where they sent 11 batters to the plate.
The Mustangs improve to 10-4 overall.
After the first batter of the inning was recorded, Ryan Doss hit a home run for the first run of the inning. After Doss jogged around the bases, Dallas Puckett singled, followed by a base hit by Gage Waits. Lanier singled in both Puckett and Waits.
Zach Pingleton was hit by a pitch in the next at-bat. After back-to-back walks forced by Creek and Pierson, Colt West was hit by a pitch to bring him Lanier. Scoring runs in the inning for LC were Doss, Puckett, Waits, Lanier, Pingleton and Creek.
For LC, Doss and Puckett each had two hits.
The young Green Devil team scored three runs, two coming in the fourth inning and one in the fifth. Nate Beasley and Cody Hall scored in the fourth, and in the fifth, Blake Bradley plated a run.
NA had nine hits, with RBIs from Hall, Devin Gardner and Richard Gerlock.
Gaining hits for the Green Devils were Roades, Gerlock, Beasley, Hall, Cody Jodrey, Gardner, Colin Ryan and Derrick Daulton. Roades was 3-for-4 with one walk. Beasley went 2-for-3 with one run. Hall was 2-for-2.
Gaining the win for LC was Waits, who pitched three innings of relief. He faced 14 batters, allowing one earned run on three hits and two walks. He struck out one. Pierson pitched 2-3 of an inning of relief, with one strikeouts, while allowing no runs. Cawood was the starting pitcher for LC and pitched 3 1-3 innings. Cawood allowed two earned runs on seven hits and two earned runs, while finishing with four strikeouts.
The loss on the mound went to Gardner.
"Scott came out and had not pitched a varsity game for two weeks, and Wes and Gage came in and they hadn't pitched in a long time. We wanted to get them some reps, that was the main thing. Scott was effective with his spots."[[In-content Ad]]
The Mustangs clinched the 2011 SHL title with a 12-3 league win over the North Adams Green Devils, improving to 10-1 in league play. The next closest team to LC is Eastern Brown with four league losses.
LC now has 22 SHL baseball championships.
"I'm excited for this group. We brought back four guys from last season's group, so it is a different team. I've had most of these kids at the JV level for the past two years, so that's cool to get your own stamp on some things here," LC head coach Garyn Waits said. "Winning a league title is something we expect, that's where it's at, and it is our goal. Now our goal is to win a sectional."
"For the seniors, it is good to see them go out with that."
Saturday, which was the sixth straight win for LC, was a day where the Mustangs didn't score their first run until the third inning, as they were the away team on their home field, due to field conditions at North Adams.
This past week, LC had wins against Ripley, Whiteoak and now NA, where they totaled 36 runs while allowing just eight.
After their one-run first inning, which was scored by Chaz Lanier on a base hit by Wes Pierson, LC added five runs in the fourth and six runs in the fifth inning.
"We started to hit the ball in the third and fourth inning. We started putting the ball on the bat, and that really helped. I'm impressed with the way we battled back (after the first two innings)," Waits said.
The five-run fourth inning got rolling with a one-out base hit by Ryan Doss, followed by a double by Dallas Puckett. With two outs, Lanier loaded the bases with a walk. Scott Cawood brought home one run with a walk, and Colin Creek cleared the bases with a three-run triple.
Creek scored on a fielding error by the Green Devils.
Lynchburg-Clay's final six runs came in the top of the fifth, an inning where they sent 11 batters to the plate.
The Mustangs improve to 10-4 overall.
After the first batter of the inning was recorded, Ryan Doss hit a home run for the first run of the inning. After Doss jogged around the bases, Dallas Puckett singled, followed by a base hit by Gage Waits. Lanier singled in both Puckett and Waits.
Zach Pingleton was hit by a pitch in the next at-bat. After back-to-back walks forced by Creek and Pierson, Colt West was hit by a pitch to bring him Lanier. Scoring runs in the inning for LC were Doss, Puckett, Waits, Lanier, Pingleton and Creek.
For LC, Doss and Puckett each had two hits.
The young Green Devil team scored three runs, two coming in the fourth inning and one in the fifth. Nate Beasley and Cody Hall scored in the fourth, and in the fifth, Blake Bradley plated a run.
NA had nine hits, with RBIs from Hall, Devin Gardner and Richard Gerlock.
Gaining hits for the Green Devils were Roades, Gerlock, Beasley, Hall, Cody Jodrey, Gardner, Colin Ryan and Derrick Daulton. Roades was 3-for-4 with one walk. Beasley went 2-for-3 with one run. Hall was 2-for-2.
Gaining the win for LC was Waits, who pitched three innings of relief. He faced 14 batters, allowing one earned run on three hits and two walks. He struck out one. Pierson pitched 2-3 of an inning of relief, with one strikeouts, while allowing no runs. Cawood was the starting pitcher for LC and pitched 3 1-3 innings. Cawood allowed two earned runs on seven hits and two earned runs, while finishing with four strikeouts.
The loss on the mound went to Gardner.
"Scott came out and had not pitched a varsity game for two weeks, and Wes and Gage came in and they hadn't pitched in a long time. We wanted to get them some reps, that was the main thing. Scott was effective with his spots."[[In-content Ad]]