The Catawba Ridge Copperheads got off to about the best start they could as they no-hit the Indian Land Warriors to open a key Region 3-4A series.
If the Copperheads can take two of three from Indian Land, they will clinch the region title. The win puts Catawba Ridge at 12-4 overall on the season and 8-2 in the region.
Catawba Ridge’s Jake McCoy and Jackson Mullen combined for a seven-inning no-hitter against the Warriors. McCoy got the start on the mound and went five innings allowing three walks and striking out seven, while Mullen worked the final two innings striking out five in the process.
“We played a pretty clean game,” said Catawba Ridge head coach Stas Swerdzewski. “We got good innings from our pitching staff. Our strength is our front-line arms as well as our depth on the mound.”
Catawba Ridge had 13 hits in the game and was led by several players getting at least two hits including Tyler Levy who went 2-4 with two RBI and Trevor Testerman and Owen Noonan who both went 2-3 with an RBI. Harrison Wilson also went 2-3 in the game as well.
The Copperheads started their scoring in the second inning as Mullen stole home during a pickoff attempt by Indian Land. Then in the third inning, Testerman hit his first of two triples in the game and then was driven in by Levy later in the inning.
Catawba Ridge held a slim 2-0 lead as McCoy cruised through the first four innings. In the bottom of the fourth, the Copperheads put up three runs on four hits as Noonan tripled to drive in McCoy and Testerman hit his second triple driving in Noonan, before Levy singled in Testerman.
McCoy got in a little jam in the top of the fifth, but worked his way out of it as he finished the inning with a runner on first and second due to a walk and the second error of the game on Catawba Ridge.
The Copperheads added two runs on three hits in the sixth inning to pad their lead. Mullen pitched the sixth and seventh inning for Catawba Ridge facing the minimum and striking out five of the six batters he faced.
Catawba Ridge will head to Indian Land Wednesday for game two of the series with game three being back home Friday.
In other games…
The Catawba Ridge girls’ lacrosse team beat Blythewood 14-1 on the road to improve to 6-6 overall on the season.
The Fort Mill boys’ lacrosse team beat Catawba Ridge 10-5 to improve to 3-10 overall on the season, while the loss drops the Copperheads to 6-6 overall.
The Nation Ford baseball team dropped game one of their three game series against Clover 8-3. The loss puts the Falcons at 5-9 overall and 4-3 in Region 3-5A.
Fort Mill baseball got back in the win column with a 5-4 extra inning win over Lewisville improving to 8-5 overall on the season.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
