Faith Christian leaves no doubt in 19-0 baseball victory
By FOSTER LANDER
Sports Writer ROCKY MOUNT TELEGRAM
Faith Christian first baseman Matt Sanderford isn't a switch hitter.
Sure, he had batted from the left side once in a game last season, but the Patriots' lone senior hasn't hit there regularly since Little League.
With Faith Christian leading Raleigh St. Thomas More by nearly three touchdowns Tuesday afternoon, though, Patriots coach Greg Clifton didn't see any harm in letting Sanderford take a second career at-bat from the left side.
Even better, Sanderford singled and drove in a run.
It was that kind of day for Faith Christian.
The Patriots led by four runs after just four batters en route to a 19-0 beatdown of young, inexperienced St. Thomas More.
Faith Christian led, 9-0, after two innings and 11-0 after three.
Clifton's team added eight runs in the fourth, with the game already well in hand, even as they tried to avoid scoring by not swinging and not taking the extra base.
"We played eight innings of scoreless baseball (Monday), so we needed a win, and I'll take that," Clifton said. "But we won't take a whole lot out of (Tuesday)."
St. Thomas More looked far out of its depth from Luke Mills' first pitch. The Patriots' junior right-hander drew feeble swings left and right, and his sharp curveball left a number of Chancellors hitters statuesque. The result: Mills got his first eight outs via strikeout. The ninth (and final) out of Mills' three-inning, 39-pitch outing was a soft ground ball to shortstop Ben Lewis.
"Luke looked good," Clifton said. "We looked at [today] as a bullpen for him since he's got to pitch Friday. We wanted him under 40 pitches and he threw 39, so it worked out well."
Faith Christian leadoff hitter Jacob Pridgen scored the winning run in the bottom of the first, reaching on a single, stealing second, and coming home when No. 2 hitter Landen Roupp got on base thanks to an error by third baseman Nick Brown. Roupp would move to third on an error by catcher Matt Hartman and scored moments later on a wild pitch. Cleanup hitter Braxton Varnell followed with a two-run home run to deep left.
The Patriots batted around in the first, second, and fourth innings; only seven hitters came to the plate in the third.
St. Thomas More pitcher Josh Brown was tagged for nine runs on eight hits in his two innings of work, though four of those were unearned.
Varnell and freshman Eli Ess each pitched one inning for Faith Christian. Varnell walked two but struck out the side, and Ess retired the Chancellors in order in the fifth to complete the mercy-rule victory.
"Tried to keep guys focused today as if it was zero-zero," Clifton said. "Everybody got at least two at-bats, so everyone got to play a good bit. We're still struggling to get in a routine, but it's getting there. We've got one senior so everyone is still finding their way."
Faith Christian 19
St. Thomas More 0
ST 000 00 - 0 2 6
FC 632 8x - 19 13 0
WP: Luke Mills (3IP, 0R, 0ER, 2H, 0BB, 8K);
LP: Josh Brown (2IP, 9R, 5ER, 8H, 1BB, 0K).
Top hitters: Braxton Varnell (FC): 3-3, HR, 2RBI, 4R; Matt Sanderford (FC): 3-4, 3RBI, R.
By FOSTER LANDER
Sports Writer ROCKY MOUNT TELEGRAM
Faith Christian first baseman Matt Sanderford isn't a switch hitter.
Sure, he had batted from the left side once in a game last season, but the Patriots' lone senior hasn't hit there regularly since Little League.
With Faith Christian leading Raleigh St. Thomas More by nearly three touchdowns Tuesday afternoon, though, Patriots coach Greg Clifton didn't see any harm in letting Sanderford take a second career at-bat from the left side.
Even better, Sanderford singled and drove in a run.
It was that kind of day for Faith Christian.
The Patriots led by four runs after just four batters en route to a 19-0 beatdown of young, inexperienced St. Thomas More.
Faith Christian led, 9-0, after two innings and 11-0 after three.
Clifton's team added eight runs in the fourth, with the game already well in hand, even as they tried to avoid scoring by not swinging and not taking the extra base.
"We played eight innings of scoreless baseball (Monday), so we needed a win, and I'll take that," Clifton said. "But we won't take a whole lot out of (Tuesday)."
St. Thomas More looked far out of its depth from Luke Mills' first pitch. The Patriots' junior right-hander drew feeble swings left and right, and his sharp curveball left a number of Chancellors hitters statuesque. The result: Mills got his first eight outs via strikeout. The ninth (and final) out of Mills' three-inning, 39-pitch outing was a soft ground ball to shortstop Ben Lewis.
"Luke looked good," Clifton said. "We looked at [today] as a bullpen for him since he's got to pitch Friday. We wanted him under 40 pitches and he threw 39, so it worked out well."
Faith Christian leadoff hitter Jacob Pridgen scored the winning run in the bottom of the first, reaching on a single, stealing second, and coming home when No. 2 hitter Landen Roupp got on base thanks to an error by third baseman Nick Brown. Roupp would move to third on an error by catcher Matt Hartman and scored moments later on a wild pitch. Cleanup hitter Braxton Varnell followed with a two-run home run to deep left.
The Patriots batted around in the first, second, and fourth innings; only seven hitters came to the plate in the third.
St. Thomas More pitcher Josh Brown was tagged for nine runs on eight hits in his two innings of work, though four of those were unearned.
Varnell and freshman Eli Ess each pitched one inning for Faith Christian. Varnell walked two but struck out the side, and Ess retired the Chancellors in order in the fifth to complete the mercy-rule victory.
"Tried to keep guys focused today as if it was zero-zero," Clifton said. "Everybody got at least two at-bats, so everyone got to play a good bit. We're still struggling to get in a routine, but it's getting there. We've got one senior so everyone is still finding their way."
Faith Christian 19
St. Thomas More 0
ST 000 00 - 0 2 6
FC 632 8x - 19 13 0
WP: Luke Mills (3IP, 0R, 0ER, 2H, 0BB, 8K);
LP: Josh Brown (2IP, 9R, 5ER, 8H, 1BB, 0K).
Top hitters: Braxton Varnell (FC): 3-3, HR, 2RBI, 4R; Matt Sanderford (FC): 3-4, 3RBI, R.
