PILOT MOUNTAIN — East Surry picked up its sixth-straight win of the 2021 season by defeating Mount Airy 10-0 on Friday.
The Cardinals, ranked No. 8 in the 1A division by MaxPreps, dropped their season opener but haven’t lost since. With Friday’s win, East Surry (6-1) has outscored opponents 47-17 in the month of May.
Nineteen of those runs have come against the Bears, who fall to 3-5 overall. Mount Airy holds a win over each team in the Northwest 1A Conference except East.
The bats started moving immediately for East Surry in the bottom of the first inning. After Carson Willoughby lined out at shortstop, Luke Bowman singled and reached second on a Mount Airy error. Folger Boaz scored Bowman with an RBI double hit to the left-center field fence.
Courtesy runner Tristan Mason scored the second run of the game on a hit from Benji Gosnell. With two outs, Gosnell made it back to home plate off an Anthony Ayers hit. Mount Airy’s Reece McDuffie threw his first strikeout of the game to end the inning.
After leaving McDuffie on base in the first inning, the Bears looked to score in the top of the second. Josh Penn was up first and he flied out at first base. Reece Deaton singled for Mount Airy’s first hit of the game, but never reached second. After Boaz got his first strikeout, Bowman connected with Willoughby to get Deaton out trying to steal second.
Both teams went three-up three-down in the second inning. Mount Airy also did in the top of the third, with two batters struck out by Boaz and the third lining out at second base.
East Surry added two runs in the third to increase the lead to 5-0. Bowman led with a single then made it to second on a wild pitch. An infield grounder hit by Boaz was bobbled, allowing Bowman to reach third and Boaz to safely reach first.
Luke Brown scored Bowman with a grounder to left field. Mason, again running for Boaz, got to third on a wild pitch and tagged up on a sacrifice fly hit by Anthony Ayers to score the Cards’ fifth run.
McDuffie got on base for the second time by singling in the top of the fourth. A wild pitch moved McDuffie to second, then another allowed him to get to third.
Boaz struck out two Bears to put Penn up to bat. Penn hit a grounder in the infield while McDuffie ran for the plate. Penn was called out on a close play at first to nullify the run.
After McDuffie started the bottom of the fourth with a strikeout, East Surry went on a tear. Caden Lasley got on base when a pop fly was dropped. Willoughby singled to join Lasley.
Bowman placed a line drive just out of second baseman Bryson George’s reach to score both Lasley and Willoughby. When Mount Airy tried to get Willoughby out at the plate, but were too late, Bowman was able to advance to third.
The lead increased to 8-0 when the next batter, Boaz, singled up the middle to score Bowman. Mason subbed in for Boaz and made it to third after Brown hit a double. The bases were loaded when McDuffie walked Gosnell.
Kamden Hawks took the mound after the bases were loaded, but the freshman walked his first two batters: Ayers and Evan McCreary. Mason scored when Ayers was walked, and Brown scored when McCreary was walked.
The Bears got the second out on a Trey Armstrong hit, opting to get the force out at the plate. Hawks then got his first and only strikeout to end the inning.
Mount Airy had to score at least one run for the game to continue. Unfortunately for the Granite Bears, a fly out and two strikeouts ended their night.
Both Mount Airy and East Surry continue conference play on May 25. The Bears travel to South Stokes and the Cardinals host Bishop McGuinness.
Scoring
Mount Airy – 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, X, X = 0
East Surry – 3, 0, 2, 5, X, X, X = 0
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
Be First to Comment