WCD baseball cruises in playoff opener
By GREER SMITH ENTERPRISE SPORTS WRITER
HIGH POINT — Westchester hammered the ball early and late on Thursday.
The No. 2-seed Wildcats hit two home runs to start their offensive onslaught, ended it with a 10-run fourth inning and defeated Burlington Christian 15-3 in the second round of the NCISAA 2A baseball playoffs at the David Couch Baseball Complex.
Westchester, which had a first round bye and won its first playoff game in four seasons under coach Devin McLemore, improves to 8-5 and moves on to host a quarterfinal game on Saturday. Burlington Christian finishes 2-14.
“You score in every inning and you’re going to be tough to beat,” Westchester coach Devin McLemore said. ”I know Burlington Christian is rebuilding and didn’t have a winning record but they’re hungry and they won in the first round of the playoffs. If you’re hot at the right time, you can be very dangerous. We didn’t have a great practice yesterday. But, I was very pleased to see them locked in and focused and swinging the bat right away.”
Westchester belted 12 hits in its four innings. The game was stopped after the top of the fifth because of a mercy rule.
Caleb Hammond was 3 for 4 with a solo homer and three runs driven in. Josh Hammond was 2 for 4 with a homer and two RBIs. Byrce Hooker went 2 for 3, drove in two runs and scored two. Austin Melton was 1 for 2 with a RBI and two runs scored. Carson Daniel was 1 for 2 with an RBI and a double. Cook Smith was 1 for 2 with two runs scored and Clay Rosser was 1 for 2 with two runs driven in.
“What I am most proud of is we had to deal with some adversity before the game and the beginning of the game, and some guys stepped up and pulled more weight than they’re used to,” McLemore said. “That helped give us that breathing room early in the game and then we were able to get some of our guys back in later.
“And this was the first playoff win under my reign. So I’m proud of the work we’ve put in and us seeing the fruits of our labor.”
Josh Hammond hit a leadoff homer to left that just missed the scoreboard in the first, and Caleb Hammond hit the first pitch in the second off the scoreboard to make it 2-0. Both shots were off Burlington starter Matthew Ward, who left later in the second because of an elbow issue.
“We’re never swinging for the fences,” McLemore said. “But I tell the guys if they get their pitch early in the count that is when they need to be 100% full swings. If you get later in the count, your approach changes. But, if there’s nobody on and you get your pitch, we’ve got to be swinging to do some damage with the baseball.”
The Wildcats feasted on four Royals relievers the rest of the way. They pushed across three in the third on Melton’s RBI double, Caleb Hammond’s RBI single and Daniels’ RBI double.
After the Royals scored three in the fourth, Westchester responded by sending 16 to the plate in piling up the 10 runs in the fourth. The runs came across on Josh Hammond’s sacrifice fly, Hooker’s single, a wild pitch when Melton walked, Caleb Hammond’s single, Trey Johnson’s walk, two more wild pitches, Rosser’s two-run double and Hammond’s single.
Daniel went the distance in picking up the pitching win. He allowed all three Royals runs in the fourth, one scoring on an infield hit and the other two on an error, as they closed to 5-3.
“The name of the game in high school baseball is most teams only have a couple of good pitchers, and you get through those and it can be a slugfest,” McLemore said. “And I was proud of Carson. He’s pitched 18 innings this year and those are the first earned three runs he’s given up. So the effort on the mound and on defense was pretty much on point.”
By GREER SMITH ENTERPRISE SPORTS WRITER
HIGH POINT — Westchester hammered the ball early and late on Thursday.
The No. 2-seed Wildcats hit two home runs to start their offensive onslaught, ended it with a 10-run fourth inning and defeated Burlington Christian 15-3 in the second round of the NCISAA 2A baseball playoffs at the David Couch Baseball Complex.
Westchester, which had a first round bye and won its first playoff game in four seasons under coach Devin McLemore, improves to 8-5 and moves on to host a quarterfinal game on Saturday. Burlington Christian finishes 2-14.
“You score in every inning and you’re going to be tough to beat,” Westchester coach Devin McLemore said. ”I know Burlington Christian is rebuilding and didn’t have a winning record but they’re hungry and they won in the first round of the playoffs. If you’re hot at the right time, you can be very dangerous. We didn’t have a great practice yesterday. But, I was very pleased to see them locked in and focused and swinging the bat right away.”
Westchester belted 12 hits in its four innings. The game was stopped after the top of the fifth because of a mercy rule.
Caleb Hammond was 3 for 4 with a solo homer and three runs driven in. Josh Hammond was 2 for 4 with a homer and two RBIs. Byrce Hooker went 2 for 3, drove in two runs and scored two. Austin Melton was 1 for 2 with a RBI and two runs scored. Carson Daniel was 1 for 2 with an RBI and a double. Cook Smith was 1 for 2 with two runs scored and Clay Rosser was 1 for 2 with two runs driven in.
“What I am most proud of is we had to deal with some adversity before the game and the beginning of the game, and some guys stepped up and pulled more weight than they’re used to,” McLemore said. “That helped give us that breathing room early in the game and then we were able to get some of our guys back in later.
“And this was the first playoff win under my reign. So I’m proud of the work we’ve put in and us seeing the fruits of our labor.”
Josh Hammond hit a leadoff homer to left that just missed the scoreboard in the first, and Caleb Hammond hit the first pitch in the second off the scoreboard to make it 2-0. Both shots were off Burlington starter Matthew Ward, who left later in the second because of an elbow issue.
“We’re never swinging for the fences,” McLemore said. “But I tell the guys if they get their pitch early in the count that is when they need to be 100% full swings. If you get later in the count, your approach changes. But, if there’s nobody on and you get your pitch, we’ve got to be swinging to do some damage with the baseball.”
The Wildcats feasted on four Royals relievers the rest of the way. They pushed across three in the third on Melton’s RBI double, Caleb Hammond’s RBI single and Daniels’ RBI double.
After the Royals scored three in the fourth, Westchester responded by sending 16 to the plate in piling up the 10 runs in the fourth. The runs came across on Josh Hammond’s sacrifice fly, Hooker’s single, a wild pitch when Melton walked, Caleb Hammond’s single, Trey Johnson’s walk, two more wild pitches, Rosser’s two-run double and Hammond’s single.
Daniel went the distance in picking up the pitching win. He allowed all three Royals runs in the fourth, one scoring on an infield hit and the other two on an error, as they closed to 5-3.
“The name of the game in high school baseball is most teams only have a couple of good pitchers, and you get through those and it can be a slugfest,” McLemore said. “And I was proud of Carson. He’s pitched 18 innings this year and those are the first earned three runs he’s given up. So the effort on the mound and on defense was pretty much on point.”
