Champion hurls three-hit shutout for Aycock Junior Legion

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on June 10, 2009 10:49 AM

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PIKEVILLE -- Aaron Champion scattered three hits over seven innings as Charles B. Aycock topped North Lenoir 9-0 in Junior American Legion baseball action Tuesday evening.

The diminutive left-hander struck out four Hawks en route to the complete-game mound win which took just 92 minutes to play.

"It all starts with pitching," said Aycock head coach Nelson Cunningham said. "We played good defensively, and Aaron did a great job of getting on top early in the count."

Champion pitched out of first-inning trouble before settling down.

Najee Jackson started the Hawks' first at-bat with a walk and moved to third on Chastin Radford's single. Spencer Bass bounced into a double play, and Zach Brown grounded out to shortstop to end the threat.

"That double play turned out to be huge," said Cunningham. "It might have been a different ballgame if we don't get that play and get out of the inning."

The Golden Falcons seized the lead in their half of the first.

Collin DuBose drew a one-out walk, stole second and scored on a North Lenoir error. Aycock (7-2 overall) added two second-inning runs and broke the game open in the third.

DuBose led off by reaching on an error, Jon Taylor singled and Nicholas McGee walked to load the bases. Jordan Quinn followed with a two-run single and Tyler Ruffin drove in the third run with a groundout.

Jeff Carmel singled, Cameron Taylor reached on an error and Tyler Farmer delivered an RBI base hit.

"This was really our first complete game of the season," said Cunningham. "We hit the ball a little bit, we made the plays in the field and our pitching was excellent."

Champion allowed just three base runners after the first inning. Hawks' catcher Marc Hamilton drew a walk in the second, Radford singled in the sixth and Wes Brantley singled in the seventh.

Aycock entertains Rocky Mount today. First pitch is 7 p.m.