Hampton shines on mound vs future roommate

By Cam Ellis
Published in Sports on March 15, 2015 1:52 AM

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cellis@newsargus.com

PIKEVILLE -- If the saying "chicks dig the long ball" is true, then it's a good thing the poor weather drove away most of the fans from Charles Davis Field on Friday afternoon.

The play was as sloppy as the conditions.

Until Charles B. Aycock blew the game open in a five-run sixth inning that led to an 8-1 win over New Bern. It was the Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference opener for both teams.

Bobby Hampton pitched a complete-game two-hitter for the Golden Falcons. He struck out New Bern batters.

After walking the first batter of the game, Hampton settled down. He attacked the zone early in the count with his fastball and finished off batters with a devastating curve.

New Bern starter Colin Schmid went toe-to-toe with Hampton through the first five innings. Schmid, who will be Hampton's roommate and teammate next year at Appalachian State, allowed three runs on two hits and had six strikeouts.

The wheels came off for the Bears in the sixth inning.

With two outs, New Bern allowed five runs on three walks, two errors, three wild pitches and two passed balls.

"A lot of that had to do with the pitching," New Bern coach Gary Smith said. "We couldn't throw strikes, and we got behind on every hitter. Eventually, guys are going to make you pay for that."

That guy, to no surprise, was Hampton. His double -- the only extra-base hit by either team on the night -- broke open the game. Even with his mind focused more on pitching, Hampton still found time to enjoy batting against one of his lifelong friends.

"(Schmid) is really close to me, I love him to death," Hampton said. "He pitched really well tonight I thought. I've been pitching my whole life, but it definitely feels good to get that go-ahead double and get things rolling for us."

The Golden Falcons (4-0 overall, 1-0 ECC) stole three bases and had two sacrifice bunts that also put pressure on the Bears' defense. The "small ball" execution undoubtedly pleased CBA head coach Charles Davis.

"Hopefully that's been our trademark for 25 years," Davis said. "I know at times you have to play different ways, but we try to instill in our guys that we're going to play small ball because we're going to play good defense and get good pitching.

"Our guys our comfortable doing it. Especially with a wet ground tonight, our guys knew that runs were going to be at a premium."