The Nation Ford Falcons baseball team took advantage of one bad inning from Catawba Ridge to get a 7-2 win in 11 innings Wednesday.
Nation Ford, who improved to 18-7 overall on the season with the win, scored five runs in the top of the 11th inning off of four hits and three walks from Caleb Avery, who was the third pitcher used by the Copperheads in the game. Up until the 11th inning, hitting the ball had been a struggle for the Falcons.
“We have got to start giving our pitchers run support early in the game,” said Nation Ford head coach Michael Lewis.
Justin Lehman got the win for Nation Ford throwing two innings of relief allowing one run on three hits while walking one and striking out two. Lehman and Nation Ford could have won the game in the 10th but Catawba Ridge rallied scoring a run on two hits as Lehman hit a batter allowing the tying run to come home from third to make it 2-2.
Nation Ford batted around in the 11th inning as Avery Childs singled to start the inning off and was driven in by Gabe Simmons with a double. Steven Johnson would double in a run and Miles Baker would drive in a run as well in the inning. Baker led Nation Ford at the plate going 2-4 with two RBI.
“Miles came up with the biggest hits of the game for us,” Lewis said.
Catawba Ridge starter Greyson Wild pitched eight innings allowing just one hit and walking one, while striking out eight and threw 102 pitches. While Wild held Nation Ford at bay, the Copperheads struggled to give him the help he needed.
“Greyson deserved better than what we gave him,” said Catawba Ridge head coach Stas Swerdzewski. “He pitched a really good ball game. We are excited to have him for the playoffs.”
Swerdzewski said he told his team they didn’t have anything to hang their heads about in the loss. The Copperheads were led at the plate by Trever Testerman, Harrison Wilson, and Mikey Bartowski, all of which had two hits in the game. The Copperheads outhit Nation Ford 11-7 in the game, but was held in check by Falcons’ starter Jacob Boyna and reliever Eric Yelton.
Nation Ford has one more regular season game scheduled Friday on the road at AC Flora and Catawba Ridge has a home and away against Fort Mill today and Friday. Catawba Ridge now drops to 15-7-1 overall with the loss to the Falcons.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
