BLYTHEWOOD- Blythewood bounced back from a grueling 12-inning loss to River Bluff by clinching a 9-0 victory over the South Aiken High Thoroughbreds, on the Bengals’ Military Appreciation Day.
Jordan Flemming takes a cut at the South Aiken pitch. Flemming had himself a good night with two hits and two RBI’s.
“I thought it was good for us to come out and just try to get that taste out of our mouths” Bengals’ head coach Banks Faulkner said. “Our kids left their hearts on the field over there at River Bluff, and we really poured everything into that game. I was really proud of how they came out and played a complete game against a good team, so it was a good win for us.”
Daniel Zippel started the game off, but fellow senior pitchers Hunter McCoy and Todd Mattox came on in relief to preserve the shutout. The trio of Bengals’ seniors gave up just three hits and punched out four.
“Our pitchers just continue to fill the strike-zone up, I thought our pitchers Daniel Zippel, and Hunter McCoy and then Todd Mattox, three seniors,” Faulkner said when asked about standout performers. “I mean anytime you throw a shutout you’re really good. Todd Mattox continues to be really steady for us.”
Blythewood’s bats showed up early in the first inning. South Aiken got the first two Bengals to fly-out, but an Aidan Massey walk kept the first inning alive.
An error on the next play brought Massey home, and put Landen Cruz on third for the Bengals. Tyler Miller, South Aiken’s starter, followed the error with another walk, and that opened the door for Jordan Flemming to knock in two-runs on a base hit.
“Jordan Flemming stepped in the first inning and had a big hit there that sort of broke the ice,” Faulkner said. “That’s just what we couldn’t quite get last night, was that big hit with a man in scoring position, so we’re excited. We have a tough week next week, but we’re in a good frame of mind.”
Flemming advanced to third on a wild-pitch, and stole home after another Thoroughbred pitch hit the backstop. Miller managed to get himself out of the inning before allowing a fourth run, but the damage was far from done.
South Aiken opened up the second with two consecutive walks. Those walks set the table for Aidan Massey to drive in two runs on a deep single, and the Bengals’ lead expanded to 6-0.
Miller was yanked after he got off to a rough start in the third inning. He walked four batters, allowed two-base hits and gave-up three more runs, before he was replaced by the Thoroughbreds’ designated hitter, Tannar Batchelor.
Batchelor had much more success than his predecessor. He went three and two thirds, he did give up three hits, but did not allow a run or earned run, and still his team could not manage to provide him any type of run support.
The Thoroughbreds only picked up one single in the last three innings, and the runner did not make it past first base.
Blythewood will follow the South Aiken matchup with a two-game set against their conference opponents Dutch Fork. Game one will be Tuesday at Dutch Fork and the final game will be Friday night in Blythewood.
BHS: 4-2-3-0-0-0-9
SAHS: 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Hitting: 1B- Todd Mattox, Aidan Massey, Jordan Flemming (2), Josh Cowan, Zach Bailes (BHS); Connor O’Rear, Tucker Rabon (SAHS). 2B- Andrew Kraus (SAHS).
Pitching: (BHS) Daniel Zippel (W), 4IP, 2H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 3K. Hunter McCoy 2IP, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 0K. Todd Mattox 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 1K. (SAHS) Tyler Miller (L), 2.1 IP, 3H, 9R, 5ER, 7BB, 2K. Tanner Bachelor, 3.2IP, 3H, 0R, 0ER, 2BB, 2K.