Charger Diamond Classic: Suggs, Godo each throw complete game

By Cam Ellis
Published in Sports on April 10, 2015 1:48 PM

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cellis@newsargus.com

The Charger Diamond Classic got underway on Thursday afternoon, with both Wayne Christian and Wayne Country Day School each coming away with a win.

Ted Suggs threw a complete game as Wayne Christian defeated Halifax Academy, 10-1, in the opener. WCDS used the momentum of a four-run third inning to hand Lee Christian a 6-1 loss.

Suggs was dominant on the mound. The right-hander allowed one run on four hits and struck out 12 Halifax batters in a complete-game outing.

"The good thing with Ted today -- and we've been working on a couple of things -- is that he hit his spots," Wayne Christian head coach Curt Hinton said. "We've been wasting that high fastball ... but he was actually now getting down at the shoulders."

Tyler Jomo scored the Vikings' lone run -- a solo home run in the fifth.

Offensively, Tanner Rose led the Eagles with two hits and three RBI, including a two-run homer in the second inning. Holden Foster went 1-for-3 with a double, two stolen bases and two RBI. Trey Hinton had two hits, an RBI and scored twice.

"The big thing was that they were centering up on the ball later," Hinton said. "They popped up early, but they started to center up, hit top half and there was some good situational hitting.

"We have a rule that you have to do 10 pushups in the dugout if you pop up, so they know what's coming when they pop up."

Wayne Country Day ran wild on the basepaths against the Falcons. The Chargers stole 11 bases and every batter who reached base, swiped second at least once. Starting shortstop Mitch Turnage stole home.

"Their pitcher wasn't really doing anything with (the base runners)," Chargers head coach Mike Taylor said. "He was easy to read. We wanted to take advantage of that."

Amane Godo pitched a complete game for WCDS. He allowed one run on four hits, walked two and struck out seven. It was the first time in two years that the Chargers' pitcher has gone the distance.

"He's struggled with his walks -- they've been up this year," Taylor said. "So it was nice to see him come out and throw strikes, pound the zone and getting ahead in the counts. Even when fell behind in the count, he was able to get right back."

Third baseman Patrick Hall had the biggest day at the plate for the Chargers, going 2-for-3 with 3 RBI. Left fielder Zack Barfield also had a nice afternoon, going 2-for-3 with two doubles and an RBI.

Despite the fact that the Charger Diamond Classic is a round-robin style tournament with no official winner, Taylor is just happy to get the work in.

"It's just about getting better every day," he said. "We're thinking about moving into April and May and the playoffs. That was the first home win we've had all year ... so it's nice to get a home win."

Wayne Christian and WCDS faced each other at 1:30 p.m. today.