JV baseball bounces back

The CHS JV Baseball Team claimed the victory in their second game of the season on Thursday, February 25 against the North Forsyth Raiders at Cherokee High School with a final score of 16-6.

The Warriors suffered a tough lost to North Forsyth on Tuesday, February 23 in their first game of the season at North Forsyth. The Raiders’ early lead on Tuesday’s game made it tough for the Warriors to catch up. The Raiders’ claimed the victory and the game ended with a score of 2-6.

The Warriors started off the game on defense with sophomore, Pierce Dixon pitching. Right fielder, freshman, Sammy Hardison, got the first out with a fly out to right field. Dixon then struck out two batters ending the top of the first inning. The Warriors then took the lead in the bottom of the first inning when sophomore, Copper Isaacs, stole home.

Dixon continued to pitch through the second inning with two hits allowed, but no runs scored. Sophomore, Brighton Cux went in for pitcher Pierce Dixon to start off the third inning and pitched through the fourth with no runs scored.

North Forsyth took control back in the top of the fifth when the runner on second scored after a single was hit by the Raiders. The Raiders continued on to score 3 more runs on pitcher Matthew Clark during the fifth inning making the score 4-1 going into the bottom of the fifth.

When the bottom of the fifth rolled around the energy was low. The bases were loaded after a walk and two singles (Isaacs was walked, Townsend singled on a line drive to center field, and Montgomery singled to right.) Pitcher and designated hitter, Aiden Bible then was walked causing the runner on third, Cooper Isaacs, to score. The Warriors gained momentum and scored seven more runs in the inning. Townsend, Montgomery, Bible, Flournoy, Hurt, Graham, and Issacs all scored prior to freshman, Chase Montgomery being called out when there was a batter’s inference from his bat hitting the Raiders’ catcher in his back swing, closing the fifth inning with a score of 9-4.

During the bottom of the fifth, freshman, Blake Shappert was thrown out after he slid into home and the Raiders’ pitcher tagged him out. When the tag was made, the umpire said that Blake intentionally made extra contact with the glove and grabbed onto it to dislocate the tag. The umpire threw Shappert out due to offensive interference. The Warriors’ fans were furious. Many were yelling and opposing to the decision. Due to being thrown out of Thursday’s game, Shappert has to sit out of an additional two games.

The Warriors kept up their momentum from the fifth inning going into the sixth, but the Raiders’ didn’t give up and went on to score two more runs on pitcher Aiden Bible before going into the bottom of the sixth.

The Warriors continued to dominate on offense. They quickly loaded the bases again after Bible took a base after being hit by a pitch, Holstein singled on a line drive to left field, and Hardison sacrificed and reached on an error by the Raiders’ third baseman. Pitcher Aiden Bible then scored from third and players just continued scoring. Holstein scored on an error by the Raiders’ third basemen, Hardison on a steal of home, Hurt on a walk, Graham on a ground into fielder’s choice, and Isaacs when Bible took a base after being hit by a pitch. The score was now 6-15. The next play Holstein singles on a fly ball to right field and Shaw scores ending the game due to the “run rule”.

The “run rule” for GHSA is ten runs. If one team gets ten more runs then the other, no matter what inning, the game is over due to the fact that at that point it is highly unlikely the other team will catch up and win.

“The pitching was good and we had timely hitting. We had some errors, but we overcame all of them. We had some guys coming off the bench that contributed to the big win. Everybody on the team contributed. I’m pretty sure everyone got in the game one way or another. But it was the good pitching and timely hitting that really won us the game.”
Coach Zach Brigham

Player Stats

#1 Landon Graham: Landon had two at bats. He was walked once and had one hit. He had one RBI, one total base, and scored two runs.

#2 Brighton Cux: He pitched two innings with two hits allowed, no runs scored against him, struckout three batters, and walked one. He had two wild pitches and faced ten batters. His pitch to strike ratio was 39 to 24.

#3 Cooper Isaacs: Cooper had two at bats. He was struck out once, was walked three times, and had one hit. He stole one base and scored three runs. He had two errors while in the field.

#5 Matthew Clark: Matthew pitched one inning with two hits allowed, struckout one batter, one earned run, and four runs scored against him. He faced eight batters and his pitch to strike ratio was 29 to 17.

#7 Pierce Dixon: Pierce pitched two innings with two hits allowed and no runs scored against him. He struckout two batters. He faced nine batters. His pitch to strike ratio was 36 to 21.

#8 Sammy Hardison: Sammy had two at bats. He was struck out once and had one hit. He stole one base, had one total base, and scored one run.

#9 Blake Shappert: Blake was walked once.

#12 Wesley Hurt: Wesley was walked twice and stole one base. He scored two runs.

#13 Aiden Bible: Aiden had one at bat. He was walked twice. He scored two runs. He was hit twice while at bat. He pitched one inning with one hit allowed, two runs scored against him, one earned run, and walked two batters. He had one wild pitch and faced six batters. His pitch to strike ratio was 28 to 14.

#18 Alex Shaw: Alex had four at bats. He was walked once and had two hits. He had two total bases, three RBI’s, and scored three runs.

#19 Caiden Townsend: Caiden had three at bats. He was walked two times, and had one hit. He had one RBI, one total base, and scored one run. He had one error while in the field.

#20 Noah Brown: Noah had two at bats. He had one hit and one total base.

#21 Chase Montgomery: Chase had four at bats. He was walked once and had one hit. He had one total base and scored one run. He had one error while in the field.

#22 Evan Holstein: Evan had five at bats. He was struck out twice and had three hits. He had three RBI’s, three total bases, and scored one run.

“I think we played with a lot of energy and played together. After a tough loss on Tuesday, I think our ability to rebound and come out strong to get a win as a team was big. I think that this team has a ton of talent and the ability to have a really good year.”
Second Basemen, Cooper Isaacs

“I think there were a lot of challenges on the game on Thursday that we all overcame as a team. Throughout the first four innings it was a very close game back and fourth and when you’re in game like that, you just have to keep the energy up and keep grinding. At that point when you’re going into the fifth inning and the other team just put up some runs that you have to respond to, everyone has to be engaged and supporting the players that are in the position to do the job. After we started putting up runs and taking a lead, we just kept pushing and sure enough in the end we came out on top.”
First Baseman, Spencer Radnoti

“We had a good rally. We were down early and the energy was low, but they started walking batters and we started getting some hits. We got the energy back up and rallied together and that’s what really mattered.”
Pitcher, Daniel Green