The Avery baseball team has experienced a roller-coaster ride of success and shortcomings this season. From late inning losses to dominating victories, the squad has run the gamut of highs and lows.Last week was the most positive week of the season for Avery, however, as the team appears to be hitting its stride just in time to qualify and potentially do damage in the NCHSAA 1A state baseball playoffs.
On Tuesday, the Vikings celebrated Senior Day with a contest against the Mountain Heritage Cougars. Eight Avery players, Jack Buchanan, Justin Buchanan, Jared Clark, Danny Cole, Steven Daniels, Daniel Huff, Luke Pittman, and Ethan Sluder, were recognized by the Avery crowd and applauded for their contributions to the Avery program.
The contest itself was one that was a polar opposite of the 17-9 shootout held earlier in the season in
In the top of the third frame the Vikings rallied for three runs, all scoring after two were out. Following a Cole single, Sluder took a pitch over the left center field fence for a two-run homer. The next batter in the inning, Daniel Huff, flexed his muscle with his own home run. The back-to-back jacks gave the Vikings a 3-1 lead.
Avery starting pitcher Steven Daniels was strong, limiting Heritage to just two runs and three hits through five innings.
Mountain Heritage cut the Viking lead in half in the top of the fifth inning. Josh Laws led off the inning with a walk, and later scored on a Dave Johnson base hit. In the bottom of the frame, however, Avery answered with its own run. Daniel Huff drew a two-out walk, and Steven Daniels drove him in with a base hit, making it 4-2 Avery.
Relief pitcher Jared Clark came on in the sixth inning and dominated the Heritage hitters, striking out the side. Avery added a fifth run in the bottom of the inning on hits from Dustin Childress and Mark Polsgrove, bulging the Viking margin to 5-2.
The insurance run proved valuable when Heritage clean-up hitter Jacob Neill blasted a two-run home run to shrink the Viking lead to 5-4.
“This group of seniors has been vital. I told the guys before the game that they have had to deal with a lot of adversity. You’ve head to deal with weather, losses in games you were in. But the one thing about this group of kids, it is the first group in a while that have worked hard and wanted to continue to improve as hard now as they did the first day of practice,” Avery head coach Benny Wellborn said. “These guys wanted to come out winners. They’re a great group of student-athletes, and they are starting to see the fruits of their labor and I can’t be any happier for them.”
On Friday afternoon Avery closed the regular season with a visit to Mitchell, blitzing the Mountaineers by a final score of 17-1.
Avery controlled the game in the early going, but was not able to cash in on opportunities to score. In the first three innings alone, the Vikings left the bases loaded twice and eight men on bases overall.
Nonetheless, the Vikings managed to cash in for three runs in the top of the first for an early edge. Ethan Sluder drew a walk and was drove home on a Daniel Huff triple. Steven Daniels followed up with an RBI single and himself scored on a single from Jared Clark.
surrendered only one hit over his first three innings of work. Mitchell got on the board with a Peterson solo home run, his third in the two-game series between the schools this season, to narrow the gap to 3-1.Between innings Coach Wellborn implored his team to get the bats going in the bottom of the fifh, and the team responded to the challenge with a three run post in the frame.
Luke Pittman reached on a fielder’s choice and scored on a Danny Cole base hit. Sluder picked up another base hit followed by a second RBI triple from Huff and a run-scoring single from Daniels.
Daniel Huff came on in relief in the bottom of the sixth and threw smoke past the Mitchell batters. The Mountaineers could not get anything generated offensively, and the Viking offense put the icing on the cake with a ten-run explosion in the top of the seventh to win going away.
“Today was a big win. It was good to see our kids battle out there. Jared has pitched well the past three outings. He only gave up a couple of bloop singles and a solo home run, then he settled down and gave us five innings. Daniel came in and pitched well to close the door,” Coach Wellborn said after the win. “We did the three things we have to do wo win a game, in that we threw strikes, we put the ball in play, and make routine plays. For us to cut down on errors was crucial. We did a lot of little things right that started us off and we capitalized on.”
Daniel Huff was 4 for 6 at the plate with a pair of triples and four runs batted in and three runs scored. Cole, Sluder, and Jack Buchanan each scored a pair of runs in the victory.
The Vikings close its regular season with a record of 6-14 overall, and will host Swain County Thursday in a first round playoff game. Check the here at the Blog for the latest on the Vikings in the playoffs.
Junior Varsity Wraps Up Season with Win
The Avery junior varsity baseball team split its final two games of the season, losing in its home finale to Mountain Heritage in four innings, then bouncing back in its matchup with Mitchell to trounce the Mountaineers 12-6 in four innings.
Mountain Heritage drew first blood with a run in the top of the first inning off starting pitcher Dustin Clark. After retiring Avery in order in the first, Heritage plated another pair in the second for a 3-0 advantage.
In the bottom of the inning the Avery bats came alive. A pair of walks started the rally, then Bryan Moody singled. Teammate Landon Powell had an RBI groundout to put Avery on the board, Walker Carswell reached on a fielder’s choice, then Bennett Sweat doubled to drive home Moody to tie the game at 3-3.
Heritage responded in the third inning with two triples and a single to score a pair of runs to re-take the lead at 5-3. Avery threatened by loading the bases in the bottom of the frame, but left the runners stranded when a groundout ended the inning.
The Cougars scored four insurance runs in the fourth to pad its lead to 9-3, but Avery refused to fold. The Vikings scored a pair in its final at-bat. Carswell walked to start the inning and Sweat was hit by a pitch. Both runners came around to score with help from the Clark RBI single. Avery left two runners on base, however, as the game was called after the frame due to darkness.
On Friday evening, the junior varsity followed up an impressive varsity baseball win with one of its own, doubling up the Mountaineers.
It was Mitchell who looked poised to run away with the contest in the early going. The Mountaineers touched up starting pitcher Bennett Sweat for six runs in the bottom of the first inning after Avery had taken a 1-0 lead in the top of the frame.
Sweat settled down after getting out of the inning and held the Mountaineers scoreless for the rest of the game. In the meantime the Vikings rode on the comeback trail. The Vikings sent eight men to the plate and rallied for three runs, highlighted by a two-run home run by Dustin Clark in the top of the third inning to bring the Big Red to within 6-4. Avery could have done even greater damage had they not left the bases loaded to end the threat.
In the top of the fourth the Vikings completed its comeback and seized control. Six Avery players had base hits in the inning, along with one player hit by a pitch and two others drawing walks. A total of 11 men came to plate in the inning and eight came across home plate for runs. Ian Franklin had a two RBI double in the rally, along with an RBI single from Alex Barker, who returned from a hip flexor injury to contribute to the club. Sweat nailed down the win in the bottom of the inning with a pair of strikeouts to clinch the win for the Vikes.
“It was great for the kids. We were able to beat Madison on Friday and we battled against Heritage. We had errors and struggled in the first inning. I challenged the kids to come and play and I think they rose to the occasion,” head coach Samuel Phillips said after the win. “Bennett Sweat gave us another great effort on the mound. Once he saw the team hitting offensively, it was like he smelled the win. We had several key hits like the Clark home run and Alex’s base hit with the bases loaded. We faced a lot of adversity this season, but the team came together as a group and improved with every single game. This team really came along, and tonight was really good for the kids to end with a win.”
