Last Thursday the Avery varsity baseball team hosted defending conference champion In Thursday’s game with the Wolverines the teams played through a scoreless first inning. In the top of the second, Polk plated four runs on four hits to draw first blood.
Avery threatened to answer in the bottom of the frame, but stranded runners on base and had a runner thrown out at home to stay scoreless.
In the top of the third inning Polk broke the game wide open as 12 batters came to the plate the squad scored seven times to take a commanding 11-0 advantage.
Avery cut slightly into the lead in the bottom of the third when lead-off hitter Daniel Huff blasted a solo home run to put the Vikings on the board.
Polk
“We didn’t get beat as badly and played better than our last meeting. We played well defensively and at times we had a hard time throwing strikes that hurt us,” Vikings head baseball coach Benny Wellborn said after the game. “We put the ball in play and had multiple occasions where we could have scored as many as ten runs. It’s hard to keep a team like Polk down.”
On Friday evening the Vikings tried to bounce back with a home game against
Jared Clark took the mound for Avery and was dominant early, striking out the side to start the game.
Things continued to bode well for Avery in the bottom of the frame as Danny Cole led off the frame with a solo home run to put the Vikings ahead 1-0. The Vikings worked around an error in the second inning to prevent a run from scoring, then offensively added a second run in the bottom of the frame when Luke Pittman doubled and scored on an RBI single by Cole.
In the third inning the Patriots got its offense going with three runs. A walk, a hit batsman, and three consecutive singles, all with two outs, put
The Patriot lead did not last long, however. A Jack Buchanan two-out double started a rally that included four straight hits, scoring Buchanan and pinch runner Dustin Childress, helping the Vikings to a 4-3 edge.
A big fourth inning, paced by a pair of home runs and four consecutive singles with two outs gave the team from
Cole and Ethan Sluder each walked to lead off the bottom of the inning, and Daniel Huff plated both runners with a base hit to cut the
The teams played a scoreless fifth inning, but
In the first extra inning of play,
In the bottom of the eighth
Avery committed 11 errors in the game. “Bottom line is making routine plays over seven innings wins a ballgame. We had a batting practice pitcher throwing to us and we should have put up a lot more runs,” a disappointed Coach Wellborn said after the loss. “I thought we would win in the seventh inning, but that’s the way the ball bounces sometimes.”
The Vikings hosted Mountain Heritage on Tuesday on Senior Day and won a thrilling 6-5 contest. Seniors Jack Buchanan, Justin Buchanan, Jared Clark, Danny Cole, Steven Daniels, Daniel Huff, Luke Pittman, and Ethan Sluder were recognized prior to the contest.
Back-to back home runs from Ethan Sluder and Daniel Huff staked Avery to an early lead. Avery picked up a key insurance run in the sixth inning to build a three-run advantage at 6-3. Heritage had a two-run home run in the top of the seventh, but Avery reliever Jared Clark closed the door for the save, preserving the win for starter Steven Daniels.
“When we were down in the seventh we showed the ability to come back from behind. We’ve just got to stay away from big innings that have hurt us all season and continue to do so.”
Avery travels to Mitchell Friday afternoon for the team's regular season finale. The win on Tuesday likely clinched a 1A state playoff spot for the Vikings, but the team wants to end the regular season slate with a win streak at the expense of the Mountaineers.
