Pitt County Classic: CBA defeats Riverside, Powhatan (Va.)

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on April 23, 2014 1:48 PM

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aetzler@newsargus.com

WINTERVILLE -- Bobby Hampton's performance against Powhatan (Va.) seemed like a tale of two pitchers.

The Charles B. Aycock junior struck out the side twice and had eight strikeouts through the first three innings. Then came the dreaded fourth inning.

"I've always struggled in the fourth inning ever since I was a kid," Hampton said. "I think I got too comfortable out there and started missing my spots and then they got to me."

Hampton walked three batters, hit one and gave up a single to surrender two runs in the fourth. Hampton finished with six innings pitched 11 strikeouts seven walks and a hit batsman.

His teammates did the job to support him and now Aycock is on another winning streak. The Golden Falcons defeated Riverside 7-1 and Powhatan 9-2 on the final day of the Pitt County Classic.

Tim Naughton set the tone in game one for the Golden Falcons. He allowed just two hits, walked two and struck out eight batters. The start was similar to Noah West one day earlier.

"It all goes back to Noah West's performance yesterday," coach Charles Davis said. "That gave us the momentum and Tim carried it into game one for today and the bats came alive."

CBA hit a lot of balls hard in game one, but also benefited from six Riverside errors. Jacob Naughton drove in two runs with two hits.

The Golden Falcons got more production out of the bottom half of the lineup when Trent Herndon hit an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth for the last insurance run. Herndon also scored twice in the first game.

One more struggling Aycock batter, shortstop Hank Smitherman, found his stroke in game two. Hitting just .173 coming in to the tournament, Smithman collected two hits, including an RBI triple to cap a five-run fifth inning that broke a 2-2 tie for the Golden Falcons.

"Me and Hank get up in a lot situations with runners on base, so it's big when we can come through and drive those guys in and keep the offense from stalling," Jacob Naughton said.

Davis said the Golden Falcons paid attention to the little details against Riverside and Powhatan. CBA executed a sacrifice bunt, and hit-and-runs with Herndon and Logan Brown at the plate. Each player hit the ball to the right side of the field with runners in scoring position.

"Those are things we work on every day in practice," Davis said. "If we take care of little things the little things take care of the big things. And those things were huge."

West and Tim Naughton earned spots on the all-tournament team.