Rams' duo no-hits Gators
By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on March 2, 2011 1:47 PM
SNOW HILL -- Greene Central opened the season with a near-perfect performance.
The Rams scored early and often, and two of the area's most-talented arms combined for a no-hitter in a 10-0, mercy rule-shortened win over Spring Creek on Tuesday night.
Despite the convincing victory, Greene Central head coach Scott Jones tempered his exuberance after the game.
"I thought our guys were sharp on the mound and we were ready to play on opening night," said Jones. "We got a couple of balls that fell in that probably shouldn't have and we turned those into a few early runs."
The Rams opened up a 3-0 lead in the first inning when a miscue in the outfield by the Gators set up back-to-back base hits by Trent Murray and Wes Sowers. Deric Grant added a two-run double to cap the inning.
Greene Central added three runs in the third and three more in the fourth.
Grant did the rest of the work.
The promising senior right-hander rolled through four innings, striking out nine and walking two. Kyle McLawhorn pitched a perfect top of the fifth inning to preserve the no-hitter.
"I thought we were totally anemic on offense tonight," said Spring Creek head coach Heath Whitfield. "I thought our approach was pretty poor overall. Not to take anything away from those two guys, they threw a great game."
Gunner Tyndall reached on a Spring Creek error to open the home half of the fifth inning. Will Crandell walked, Murray singled and Sowers sent the fans home early with an RBI single.
"I didn't think we squared up many balls," said Jones. "But we hit a few balls hard, and we did hit them at good times."
Sowers led the Rams with four hits and five RBI. Murray added three hits and scored two runs.
Greene Central (1-0 overall) plays host North Lenoir today. Spring Creek (0-1) will travel to Guy Smith Stadium in Greenville to play North Pitt in the inaugural Pitt County-Wayne County Challenge at 11 a.m. on Saturday.