It is said when baseball players are in a zone as hitters, the baseball appears larger than normal. The Avery lineup must have been seeing beach balls last week at the plate, as the team’s bats were white hot in a pair of dominant performance over non-conference foes North Wilkes and Cloudland.Avery traveled to Hays on Thursday and blasted 20 hits in a 15-8 victory over the North Wilkes Vikings, then hosted neighboring Cloudland on Saturday afternoon, closing the game with a walk-off home run to clinch a 13-2 five-inning win.
The Vikings received a strong pitching performance from senior starter Chris Childress. The lefty surrendered only one run over the first there innings while the Big Red bats spotted him 11 runs over the same stretch.
In the top of the first the Vikings took a 1-0 lead as Childress reached on a single, was moved over on an Adam Pate base hit, and drove home on an RBI groundout by catcher Steven Daniels.
North Wilkes tied the game in the bottom of the frame on a pair of hits, but Avery again retook the advantage in its next time at bat. The Big Red lineup batted around in the top of the second and produced six runs on five hits. Sutton Stanley laced an RBI single and Daniels ripped a bases loaded two-out double to score three more in the inning as the Vikings led 7-1.
Childress struck out a pair of hitters in the bottom of the inning, and the Avery hit parade continued in the top of the third. Four additional runs scored on five hits to put the Vikings on top by an 11-1 margin.
Offense was effective and efficient throughout the lineup for the Vikings, as the team was an astounding 20 of 38 at the plate collectively, good for a .526 team average for the seven innings of play.
After holding Avery to its first scoreless in both the fourth and fifth innings, the North Wilkes bats woke up in the bottom of the fourth to get back into the game. The Wilkes Vikings touched Childress and the Avery defense for four runs in the fourth and another in the fifth to bring the game to within five runs at 11-6.
The Viking bats again found their groove in the final two innings of play to keep the Big Red out front. Avery scored twice in each of its final two times at bat to put up 15 total runs. North rallied in the bottom of the sixth to score a pair of runs and Vikings skipper Benny Wellborn called on Daniel Huff to come on in relief to put out the fire. Huff closed the inning without further damage, and Brooks Oakley came on in the seventh to slam the door on the Avery win.
The entire Viking lineup from top to bottom was productive. Senior left fielder Sutton Stanley was a perfect 5 for 5 at the plate with three runs batted in and scored three times from the ninth spot in the order. Danny Cole and Jared Clark combined to score four runs out of the bottom third of the order as well. Childress and Zac Hall both had three hits in five plate appearances, while Pate, and Daniels had two hits apiece and combined for seven runs batted in.“North was a pretty good ballclub that didn’t quit. We throttled down in the middle of the ballgame and made some mistakes and it almost came back to bite us. To our kids’ credit, we kept pushing and got key hits as we kept hitting the ball,” Avery head coach Benny Wellborn said after the win. “Our pitching has kept us in ballgames when our offense has struggled. Now we’re heating up with the bats, and hopefully we can continue to roll into an important part of our schedule.”
On Saturday afternoon Avery and Cloudland made up a game postponed earlier in the week due to weather. The ‘Landers struck first in the top of the first off Avery starter Adam Pate, as leadoff hitter Michael Hyden walked and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from first baseman Tyler Dyer. Hyden came around to score on an error on a ball hit by Casey Pritchard to the outfield for the game’s first run.
The Viking offense picked up where it left off from its previous contest as Avery struck for six first inning runs off Landers starter Pritchard. Twelve runners came to bat for Avery in the opening frame as Pritchard had difficulty with control, walking a trio of Avery batters and hitting another three players with pitches. Cody Bullwinkle was called on in relief after two-thirds of an inning and he prevented the Vikings from further extending their advantage.
In the bottom of the second Avery added a run to extend its lead to a half-dozen at 7-1. Steven Daniels singled and advanced on an error, then scored after a single from Zac Hall.
Cloudland answered the Vikings with a run in the top of the third to narrow the margin. Hyden reached on a one-out single then scored on an RBI hit by Dyer to cut the lead to 7-2.
In the bottom of the frame the Big Red added some insurance to help its cause. Avery plated three runs to stretch its lead to 10-2. Sutton Stanley led the inning off with a laser shot that hit the top of the fence in dead center field for a double. He scored on a perfectly executed RBI squeeze play by Chris Childress that resulted in Childress safely reaching base.
“Normally on a squeeze you want to just deaden the ball, but we noticed their second and first basemen were playing deep. I told our guys if they bunt the ball deep that they had a good chance to get on,” Vikings head baseball coach Benny Wellborn explained after the game. “Chris knew what we wanted to do, and he put it exactly where I wanted it. He did a heck of a job of putting the ball out there in that Bermuda Triangle area.”
Childress stole second base following the play and both he and teammate Pate scored, the latter on an RBI groundout and the latter on a steal of home.
As the fourth inning ensued, both teams threaten to score. Cloudland loaded the bases with two out in the top of the fourth, but pitcher Pate induced a groundout to close the inning and get out of the jam. Avery put a pair of runners on base in the bottom half of the frame, but Bullwinkle pitched masterfully as he struck out the side to quell the Viking opportunity.
The score remained unchanged until the bottom of the fifth and final inning. Oakley was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game to lead things off and stole second and third base while Pate followed up with a walk to put two runners on for catcher and clean-up hitter Steven Daniels. Cloudland coach Kevin Kendall called on Andy Holden to come on in relief. Daniels worked the count to 3-1, then hit a line shot over the fence in left centerfield for a walk-off, three-run home run for the final margin in the 13-2 Avery victory.
Starting pitcher Adam Pate went the full five innings to pick up the pitching victory, his second in two starts this season.
“He’s a competitor. He did well. He hasn’t thrown since the first time we played Cloudland. We couldn’t expect him to be perfect out there, as he hasn’t thrown many bullpens. He had a little rust, but he battled and performed pretty well,” Coach Wellborn said after the game. “It might sound a little weird, but we’re doing well with being patiently aggressive at the plate. We’re putting good swings on the ball and we’ve been recognizing good pitches with our plate approaches, plus we’re being smart, recognizing when a pitcher is having a hard time on the mound and making him work.”
Childress was 2 for 3 with a pair of RBI for Avery. Adam Pate was 1 for 2 and scored three runs, while Steven Daniels was 3 for 4 with a home run, three runs scored, and three runs batted in. Avery ventures back into conference play this week with a home-and-home series against Hendersonville, hosting the Bearcats on Friday. The Vikings will host rival Mitchell in Newland on Wednesday.
