In what Nation Ford head baseball coach Michael Lewis described as their best game played this year, the Falcons came out swinging against the Catawba Ridge Copperheads and never let up to grab a 15-2 win.
The Falcons scattered 12 hits and took advantage of four Copperhead errors in the game. Jacob Boyna threw a five-inning complete game for Nation Ford and struck out eight Catawba Ridge batters, while allowing just five hits and walking just one.
“We hadn’t put together a complete game yet,” Lewis said. “But we talked about let’s focus in the moment, when we need to focus. This is the first time we locked in. They (Catawba Ridge) are a good team.”
Catawba Ridge started the game off scoring in the first inning on two-hits with the help of an RBI single from Brody Tesimale to drive in Trevor Testerman, who singled to lead the game off. Tesimale and Testerman each had two of the five hits for the Copperheads in the loss.
That lead was short lived as Nation Ford jumped on starter Harrison Wilson early in the first and scored five runs with the help of two errors as the Falcons batted around in the first inning.
Catawba Ridge picked up their second run of the game in the second inning on a triple by Tyler Levy, who ended up scoring on a passed ball, but the offense stalled for the Copperheads after that.
Nation Ford came back and added two runs in the second on three more hits and four runs in the third on three hits to blow the game open. Justin Lehman led the Falcons going 3-4 with four RBI in the game. Seth Hanson drove in two runs for Nation Ford as well in the game going 2-3 at the plate.
The offense for Catawba Ridge did manage two hits in the third inning, but then went without getting a baserunner in the final two innings of the game.
The win puts the Falcons at 4-2 on the season and Catawba Ridge falls 3-2 on the year with the loss.
Nation Ford is next scheduled to play South Pointe on Friday and Catawba Ridge was supposed to play Fort Mill Thursday, but that game has been postponed. They will now turn their attention to South Pointe for their first Region 3-4A game on the road March 22.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
