The Avery baseball teams ventured to Junior Varsity:
The JV Vikings grabbed an early lead on Mountain Heritage, but the Cougars quickly bounced back to take control of the game in winning by a 12-2 final score.
Avery scored a run in the top of the first frame when Bennett Sweat singled and later scored on a wild pitch to give the Vikings the early 1-0 lead.
Heritage rallied in the bottom of the inning with a pair of runs to put the Cougars up by a run.
After Avery was retired in order in the second, Mountain Heritage plated a pair of insurance runs to lead by a 4-1 margin. Although trailing, the Big Red managed to make noise in the top of the third when Sweat singled and scored on a sacrifice fly from Tyler Edwards to make the score 4-2.
A three-run third inning bolstered the MHHS advantage to 7-2. After the Vikings were unable to score in the fourth, the Cougars put the game away with a five-run outburst. Avery could not score in the fifth inning and the game was called due to the 10-run mercy rule.
Varsity:
After the junior varsity game, the varsity teams took the diamond on the sunny, warm afternoon. In a game much closer than the score indicated, Mountain Heritage used an eight-run sixth inning to pull away from the Vikings in a 17-9 loss.
The high temperatures must have heated up the Viking offense, as Avery exploded for six runs in the top of the first inning in support of starting pitcher Daniel Huff. The first five hitters in the Avery lineup reached base safely and came around to score runs. Huff laced a two-run double in the frame, while Danny Cole and Dustin Childress each added an RBI base hit to put the Vikings comfortably in front.
Heritage quickly answered by picking up three runs in its half of the opening frame. The top three hitters in the Cougar lineup were potent in the entire game, scoring a total of ten runs with eight hits. Vikings starter Huff worked out of trouble in the inning to maintain a three-run edge.
Avery was retired in order in the second frame and the Cougars completed their comeback with three more runs, scored by the identical top three hitters in the lineup, to tie the contest at 6-6.
The Cougars touched up the Viking defense for another three-run burst in the bottom of the third to take its first lead at 9-6.
The score remained unchanged as reliever Jared Clark took the mound in relief and shut out Heritage for the next two innings. In the top of the fifth Avery narrowed the gap to 9-8. Two-out singles from Joe Buchanan and C.J. Vance was followed by a two-RBI double by Cole, his third hit of the day, to draw the Vikings within a run.
In the top of the next inning Avery tied the game again, this time at 9-9 when Ethan Sluder singled and scored on a 4-6 fielder’s choice.
With the score tied and the outcome in doubt, Avery began to succumb to the pressure of keeping the Cougars offense from breaking out. Twelve hitters came to the plate for Mountain Heritage in the sixth inning, eight of the players scoring runs. The Vikings hurt their cause with defensive miscues, and after issuing both intentional and unintentional walks to keep the force out in play, the Cougars made the moves backfire, replenishing the bases on too many occasions.Relief pitcher Dustin Childress recorded a strikeout to finally close the inning, but the damage had been done.
With only the top of the seventh inning remaining Avery was unable to answer, as the Vikings were retired in order to close out the game.
“We jumped on them early and hit the ball really well. We hit a little of a cold streak and battled back to get back in it, which was good to see,” Avery head baseball coach Benny Wellborn said following the game. “They just had a big inning. We took a gamble and tried to minimize damage as best we could by keeping a force in play with the heart of their lineup coming to bat, but we took some damage anyway.”
The Vikings will take some time off to work out the kinks and with some good fortune will finally get the opportunity to practice on the baseball field that the bad weather has rendered virtually unusable for much of this season.
“This is a game about making routine plays. If you make the routine plays you minimize damage and win games,” Coach Wellborn said. “Those little things add up over the course of seven innings. We’ll take some time off, and hopefully by the time we get back we can actually have a practice on the field and be able to get work in. Since we’ve gotten into the cages we’re hitting the ball better. It’s been a hard season to improve with not having the ability to get on our field, but hopefully we’ll keep working at the fundamentals of fielding, hitting, and throwing.”
The Vikings return to action on April 13th for their home opener against Mitchell, and will travel to make up a game at
