The Avery JV and varsity baseball teams traveled to Columbus this evening for a 1A conference match against Polk County. The junior varsity squad had difficulty against the strong pitching of the Polk southpaw starter, only mustering a single walk in five innings of play.
Avery starter Daniel Huff gave a solid pitching effort to the Big Red, surrendering only three runs through the first three innings of play. Polk used timely hitting and took advantage of walks issued by the Avery relief corps to extend the lead to an eventual 10-0 victory.
Tuesday's varsity action set up to be an exciting pitcher's matchup between Avery's Seth Phillips and Polk's Brandon Jolley. The two did not disappoint, combining for 18 strikeouts in the contest. Despite the strong performances on the mound, both teams were able to generate offense at the plate and on the base paths.
Polk took advantage of a walk, two errors, and a balk (all with two outs) to score four runs in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Avery surrendered a fifth run in the third inning to lead 5-0, but the Vikings pieced together four straight singles off Jolley in the bottom of the third to cut the lead to 5-3. This, Avery's final and best offensive threat of the game, ended with the bases loaded. Jolley helped his own cause with a solo home run to right field for an insurance run to provide for the final 6-3 margin as Brandon's brother Nick came on in the top of the seventh for a 1-2-3 inning to pick up the save.
Phillips pitched a complete game of six innings, throwing 115 pitches and striking out 10 hitters while giving up only eight hits. Avery takes on Hampton and Wilkes Central in non-confernece games later this week.
